CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER

Another twist to Cristiano Ronaldo’s soap opera with Real Madrid. Spanish sport’s daily Marca reported that the player is not going back to Manchester. He wont be at the negotiations today instead letting his agent do the talking for him. All that despite the fact that Man Utd’s coach Ferguson had met with Ronaldo in Lisbon last month and claimed that Ronaldo would likely remain at United next season. Real Madrid is reportedly offering around $140 million dollars for Ronaldo.

Real Madrid’s midfielder Wesley Sneijder injured himself during a friendly match with Arsenal in London. Coach Bernd Schuster told Spanish newspaper Marca, “Sneijder is not right, and we’re all frightened by his injury. Sneijder’s  MRI scan Monday reveled ligament damage in his left knee. He will be out for three months and the good news is he doesn’t need surgery. The 24 year old Dutch international joined Real last year from Ajax Amsterdam.

Netherlands striker Ruud van Nistelrooy told Dutch national team coach Bert van Marwijk that he has retired from international soccer. The 32 year old said, “The combination of Real Madrid’s competition, cup and Champions League games on the one hand and the Netherlands team on the other, would be too heavy a burden for me.” In ten years he has been playing for the national team van Nistelrooy scored 33 goals in 64 matches.

Arsenal striker Eduardo thinks he will be back on the field by Christmas as he makes good progress recovering from a broken leg injury. He suffered a double compound fracture of the left leg in a tackle from Birmingham’s Martin Taylor early this year. The Brazilian-born 25-year-old Croatian international underwent a battery of tests and he hopes for an early return.

Real Madrid paid $20 million dollars for Dutch international midfielder Rafael van der Vaart from Hamburg. “Last night everything came together, and I am now moving to Real Madrid,” said van der Vaart. The 25-year-old Hamburg captain joined the German club in 2005, scoring 29 goals in 74 Bundesliga matches.

Man Utd coach Alex Ferguson told a press conference today that Wayne Rooney will miss the start of the EPL season due to a virus. Rooney and several other players became ill after the pre-season club’s trip  to Nigeria. According to the team it’s not malaria, just a bad virus Rooney caught in Nigeria. Without Nani, Aderson and Ronaldo  Man Utd is running out of strikers and the club may regret sitting on sidelines this transfer season.