Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo says he will join Real Madrid or Barcelona after making it clear he wants to leave Old Trafford.
The 21-year-old has been criticised in England for his role in the sending off of United team-mate Wayne Rooney when Portugal beat England in the World Cup.
“I should get out of Manchester as the circumstances are not right,” he said to the Sun.
“Nobody stood up for me and my desire is to play in Spain. Will it be Real or Barcelona? It will be one of them.”
Ronaldo claimed: “For some time I haven’t had any support from my chief executive (David Gill) or my coach (Sir Alex Ferguson). They should have come out in my defence but no-one did. I am calm, I know I have done a good job and I’ve grown a lot in this World Cup, from a physical point of view and a mental one. In the next few seasons I will be even better.”
Ronaldo is under contract at Old Trafford until 2010 and boss Sir Alex Ferguson said last week he expected the player to report for pre-season training.
“When people have been involved in a bid to become president at Madrid they have used clubs like ours.”
New Real manager Fabio Capello said it was good news that Ronaldo was considering a move to The Bernabeu.
“He is a Manchester United player but everyone wants to come to play here and I think he really wants to and this is good news for me,” said Capello.
“We will have to wait and see but at the moment I cannot say anything.”
Ronaldo joined Manchester United from Sporting Lisbon for �12.24m in August 2003.
Former Celtic boss Martin O’Neill said Ferguson was the ideal person to diffuse the Rooney/Ronaldo disagreement.
He told BBC Radio Five Live: “One of the greatest managers of all time should sort that problem out, and I don’t think he’s had too much difficulty in the past.
“What do you do on the first day of training? I think you would have to lighten the mood. There will be a few weeks now after the World Cup is over before Manchester United meet up, and I think there might be a time of reflection for both of them, and I honestly think that they should put it to the side.”
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