Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United have both signed agreements with Real Madrid regarding the Portuguese winger's transfer to the Spanish side, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Under the agreements, Manchester will let the 2008 FIFA World Footballer of the Year go after July for a minimum of 80 million euros ($109 million), top-selling newspaper El Pais reported. Former Real president Florentino Perez, who is expected to announce Thursday that he will stand in elections to head the club again, has already discussed the payment of the amount with Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes, it added. But Perez may ultimately decide instead to recruit AC Milan's Brazilian playmaker Kaka as “he is less expensive and this would allow him to recruit more players”, the newspaper added. Last month Ronaldo, who is under contract with United until 2012, said he was happy at Manchester when asked about persistent reports linking him with a move to Real. Kaka, the 2007 FIFA World Footballer of the Year, has also said recently that he wants to stay at AC Milan. Perez was president of Real between 2000 and 2006 when the team recruited top players such as Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham. Real is slated to hold elections for president in June and Perez tops polls of the club's preferences even though he has not yet said he will run. EPL plans tougher finance rules The English Premier League, under pressure from soccer's authorities and the British government, plans to bolster its financial regulations, notably toughening rules on who can own or invest in a club. The proposals are in response to a request from British Sports Minister Andy Burnham to the high profile league and the Football Association for plans to curb debt and increase financial transparency as the game comes to terms with the worst economic slump in nearly 80 years. English clubs have amassed debts of around three billion pounds ($4.56 billion) with nearly a third of that owed by the top four, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, spar1ing criticism from lawmakers and politicians. – Agencies The proposals announced by Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore on Monday, include: - an independent audit of club accounts to determine whether a club is a “going concern”, in other words financially viable. - an annual requirement to demonstrate that the club does not have outstanding debts to other clubs, in income tax or National Insurance payments. - improve ownership rules such as requiring disclosure of any interest in a club above 10 percent and an extension of the rule whereby conviction for certain offences leads to ineligibility for directorship. - the range of these offenses will be widened and would exclude persons who have been sentenced to at least a year in prison or convicted of a so-called dishonesty such as fraud, ticket touting or hooliganism. “These regulations go above and beyond the laws of the land,” Scudamore told a panel of reporters. “Clubs have bought into this and I am confident we can have further progress in the future. These rules will help to steer us through what could be choppy waters.” FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Saturday debt-laden Premier League clubs could be hardest hit by the global credit crunch, while Michel Platini, head of European soccer body UEFA, said the game was ready to financially implode.
