Madrid ignore Fergie protestations

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Ferguson has already voiced his dislike of Madrid touting for Ronaldo and is sure to be infuriated by Schuster referring to the 23-year-old in a manner that would suggest the signing has virtually been completed.

"There are other players we have been looking at but everything has slowed down a little due to all this Cristiano Ronaldo business, seeing as he is the big priority for the club," said Schuster.

He added: "The English way has been a perfect education for a player with such exceptional individual talent.

"There he has learned to enjoy his football as a complete professional. This means we would get a Cristiano who would arrive here with his lessons learned."

Given such a statement, Ferguson is probably glad he is due to embark on his annual summer holiday next week, thus avoiding what is sure to be a regular stream of stories linking Ronaldo with a move to Madrid.

For his part, the United boss is adamant Ronaldo neither wants to, nor will be, leaving Old Trafford this summer, claiming last week the acid test of the relationship between player and club will not be faced for another two years.

And while Ferguson understands the obvious value of 42-goal Ronaldo in his squad, he also spoke of the neccesity to keep strengthening and mentioned his interest in one of United's high-profile rivals.

"Cristiano would help us in a lot of ways, without a doubt, but we can't stop with just him," he explained. "He'll be expensive and we'll have to pay a lot of money, but we need more players because he won't be enough.

"For a few months now we have had a plan and we know what we want, but now Alexander Hleb has been added to that plan. We didn't know he would be able to leave Arsenal, but now it seems he will."