Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, the subject of intense speculation about a move to Real Madrid, has a house ready for him in the Spanish capital, a Spanish sports newspaper said Thursday.
The daily Marca said the Portuguese forward will live in the upmarket district of Morajela next season, not far from Real's president Ramon Calderon and German coach Bernd Schuster.
Marca and another sports newspaper AS said Ronaldo, who is on holiday in Sardinia with his Spanish fiancee Nereida Gallardo after playing for Portugal in Euro 2008, may return to Manchester next week to inform the club's directors that he intends to move to Real. Manchester United have repeatedly said the player - whose contract runs until 2012 - is not for sale.
Calderon told a Madrid radio station late Wednesday that the club will make no formal move until Ronaldo officially announces his intention to quit Manchester United, with whom he won English Premier League and the European Champions League last season.
"If he continues to insist on wanting to come (to Real) and if Manchester lets him leave, then we will ask" what the price is, he said. Calderon last week dismissed talk that the Spanish champions would be willing to pay 100 million euros (155 million dollars) for the 23-year-old.
The Spanish press has said Real is ready to pay 80 to 85 million euros for Ronaldo, and offer him a five-year contract worth nine million euros a year.
But Calderon said he does not plan to part with any players to finance the deal, although the Spanish media has said Real may sell Brazil's Robinho to Chelsea.