Man U agreed to Ronaldo's Real Madrid transfer before formal bid

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London, July 1 (ANI): Real Madrid's sporting director Jorge Valdano has claimed that Manchester United agreed to the world-record transfer of Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo months before it was announced.

Valdano claimed that the deal was struck before Florentino Perez became Real Madrid president.

But a spokesman for Manchester United said no such deal was struck.

A spokesman said: "Until the faxed bid was received on June 10, 2009, there has never been any agreement of any sort between Manchester United and Real Madrid over Cristiano Ronaldo."

Valdano, Perez's right-hand man, claimed a contract was already in place when they took over the club on June 1.

The Sun quoted him as saying: "With Cristiano Ronaldo we had to sign him now because there was an expiry date.

There was a contract and we had to respect the dates stipulated, when to make the signing public, when to communicate with Manchester, when to pay. All of that was established in a very precise manner that didn't allow us to play not even with the dates." (ANI)