Real mad Fergie to shun Ronaldo talk

The Manchester United boss awoke in Japan on Thursday to news that in a leaked conversation, a Real Madrid director had claimed a deal had been done to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.

"We just have to ignore it," Ferguson said. "If we worry about what Real Madrid have to say we are not concentrating on our own publicity and the programme of difficult games we have got coming up."

The Scot claims he was not surprised by the fresh twist in the saga. He expected such talk to surface ahead of next month's transfer window just as he felt Real would step up their interest in Ronaldo when close friend Gabriel Heinze left United for the Bernabeu last year.

And, after a bit of soul searching, Ferguson has come to the conclusion it is not worth bothering about.

"Sometimes they create an angry situation and sometimes I get really annoyed with them. But we know their game. I think we should play ours and ignore them," he added.

Not that Ferguson could resist a quite brilliant tongue-in-cheek put-down of Real when asked whether the stories of a transfer being concluded were true.

"Do you think I would enter into a contract with that mob?" he said. "No chance. I would not sell them a virus.

"That is a no by the way. There is no agreement whatsoever between the clubs."