To the newspapers' delight, the Cristiano-Ronaldo-for-Real-Madrid transfer saga is a story that refuses to go away. The fervour is being fuelled from all angles, with every sound-bite from Ronaldo, Manchester United, Real or even the Portuguese player's godfather being treated as gospel.

The nonsense is given fresh legs on almost a daily basis thanks to a continuous stream of verbal assaults thrown back and forth between Manchester and Madrid. Carlos Queiroz, the United No.2, got particularly hot under the collar last week with his outbursts, taking the whole episode to new heights by stirring up deep-rooted national hatreds coveted by the Portuguese and Spanish factions.

Queiroz, who was sacked by Real Madrid after just one season, spluttered: "Cristiano Ronaldo will never be Spanish as they will never take Olivenca again. They already did the same with Christopher Columbus and it now seems they want to naturalise Cristiano Ronaldo." Queiroz's bitterness towards Real was plain to see when he added: "The current chairman of Real Madrid [Ramon Calderon] was my manager, and I know what he told me and what happens in the end. I have the advantage of knowing the differences between the two clubs."

‘The cries from Old Trafford have a sanctimonious whiff to them, having regard to their less-than-perfect record in tapping up players to their own benefit’


So there you have it. Manchester United are saints and Real Madrid are the thieving, lying sinners. United would never succumb to the low life tactics of trying to unsettle a player before prising him away from his club. Oh, wait. But what about Jaap Stam?

The holier-than-thou attitude of United seems incredibly rich having regard to the way the Red Devils went about their business in 1998. Back then, the towering, uncompromising centre-back was a mainstay in the Dutch league. PSV Eindhoven were not interested in letting go of their colossus. But did this stop Alex Ferguson approaching the player? Of course it didn't.

Following the release of his autobiography, Head-to-Head, Stam spoke to Simon Kuper back in 2001 to reveal how his transfer to United came about.

"In 1997, when Stam was established at PSV, Alex Ferguson approached him. But as the player reveals in his memoir – a book so uncharacteristically controversial it might almost have been written by someone else – Ferguson was dismissed… In 1998 Ferguson returned, this time with the famous unauthorised approach that Stam had to keep secret. They made a rendezvous in a safe house near Amsterdam airport… Stam caught only snippets of their first conversation. Nonetheless, he was so keen to join United that he waived the £1.65m signing-on fee due to him, because the club refused to pay PSV more than £10.5m."

Please do not read this as a justification for Madrid's current scheming. Their underhand behaviour, including using the influential Spanish paper, Marca, to unsettle Ronaldo, is scurrilous. Nevertheless, the cries from Old Trafford have a sanctimonious whiff to them having regard to their less-than-perfect record in tapping up players to their own benefit.

Rather than yelling abuse at Madrid, Ferguson should be sitting down with Ronaldo himself and forcing the youngster to make a clear and simple public statement putting the issue to bed. However, the fact that Ronaldo has yet to pour water on this fire gives the impression that Real's advances are playing on the mind of the United star.

Lovers of the Premier League will be urging Ronaldo to continue to ply his trade in England. However, in the event that he is Spanish-bound, United have little moral high ground from which they can cry about it.