`I will stay at Manchester United for now,' says Ronaldo

London, Aug.7: Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo has finally conceded that he will not be pursuing his long cherished goal of moving to the Spanish football club Real Madrid immediately. He said that for the moment, he would continue to turn out for Manchester United.

Making it clear that his 'desire to play for Madrid' was undimmed, Ronaldo said: "Yes, I'm going to stay at Manchester United. I will stay at least for this season. [Sir Alex] Ferguson heard my reasons, I heard his, and indeed we had an agreement that the best solution for both parties would be if I stay. Therefore, I can confirm that next season I will play at Manchester United.

The Telegraph further quoted him as saying: "And before there are any rumours that I might stay against my will, I want to clear this up right now: whoever says or writes that is lying. I will play for Manchester United with my heart and soul. I will fight and honour that shirt with all the commitment and dedication that I have always had. "But I want to say that I was the one who was most responsible for the controversy. It wasn't their [Madrid's] fault because I was the one that showed in public my will to move to Madrid."

"My desire was, for a while, for Manchester to accept [the bid] to sell me to Madrid. To say the opposite would be cheating people and my own conscience. But I do want to play there one day and my ambition to go there remains," Ronaldo said.


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