by Richard Leigh

Created on: July 05, 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo is a player considered by many to be one of the very best in the world. Is it right though that Real Madrid has paid 80 million to secure his services?

The footballing world was in shock when Manchester City bid 100 million for Kaka in January 2009, with he too considered to be one of the very best. Fast forward to June 2009 and Kaka was signed by Real Madrid for somewhere in the region of 56 million, and in July 2009 Ronaldo joined him at Real Madrid for a fee of 80 million. 56 million was a high enough price for Real Madrid to have paid for a player, but to then go and follow that up by signing another player for 80 million just seems absolutely crazy.

Most clubs' would dream of having 80 million to strengthen their squad with, and would cleverly use this money to invest in a number of different players. It spoils the game a little that some clubs can buy any player they want by chucking ridiculous amounts of cash at clubs, and it really doesn't seem right that 80 million should be spent on just one player.

Cristiano Ronaldo showed himself to be an excellent player during his time at Manchester United, and improved massively during this period of his career. Sir Alex Ferguson was able to get the best out of Cristiano Ronaldo, and turn him into the world renowned footballing superstar that he now is. 80 million pounds for him though; is any footballer really worth that much money? Cristiano Ronaldo will obviously boost shirt sales for Real Madrid, and they'll recoup some of the cash through merchandising, 80 million pounds is still a massive amount of money to pay for one single player though, and even taking the merchandise benefits into consideration, the 80 million price tag still doesn't sit well with me.

80 million pounds will go a long way for Manchester United. With part of that money Alex Ferguson has been able to bring in Antonio Valencia from Wigan, and that sort of money could help hugely with debts. It's a good thing for Manchester United to have gained so much money from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, for me it's not right that Real Madrid has spent 80 million on one player however, and it just seems to be an extortionate amount of money for a team to pay for a single player. Football is a massive money sport, and players now sell for huge amounts of cash, 80 million just seems a step too far really though, and the pressure on Cristiano Ronaldo to justify such a price tag will now be astronomical.

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