Van Gaal admits he is open to Ronaldo return

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has sensationally admitted that the Premier League club would be open to the possibility of bringing back Cristiano Ronaldo to Old Trafford. Such a sensational transfer has been mooted in the transfer pages of several major newspapers. Spanish reports claim that United could make an offer in the region of £ 60 million for the player that they sold for £ 80 million in 2009. Madrid stand to receive less than the figure that they originally paid for him because the Portuguese superstar is approaching 30 years of age. He will have almost no resale value after the end of his next contract.

Madrid, though, have profited immensely due to the presence of Ronaldo after the forward has scored more than a goal every game for the Spanish club. They have won all the major titles with his presence upfront. The recent signings of Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez hinted that Ronaldo’s influential to the club may be on the wane. This coupled with United’s need to seriously improve the quality means that a potential bid could be online. Van Gaal, who has already spent more than £ 150 million last summer, says that a player like Ronaldo will improve any team immensely.

“When it is possible, what I said with [Radamel] Falcao, players like Ronaldo give a lot extra to selection or to a team but I don’t think Real Madrid shall sell him,” said Van Gaal. “I love Manchester and you never know in football. Of course I’m happy at Real Madrid; it’s my home, it’s my club, but United treated me unbelievably, so you never know. I am still in contact with some people there because I had a good relationship with everybody – it was like my second family,” said Ronaldo a few months ago.

Bale Wants To Win All Six Trophies

Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale said that he wants to win all the six trophies on offer this campaign. As a result of winning the Copa del Rey and the Champions League last season, Madrid will be involved in six different competitions this campaign. Cristiano Ronaldo will also be hoping to lift several more trophies to add to his collection. This involves the possibility of winning the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup once again. Ronaldo has already lifted these titles as a Manchester United player, but for Bale, it will be a unique experience since it will be his first time.

Real will be taking on Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup at Cardiff city’s millennium stadium. This match also marks the return of Bale to the country of his birth. Speaking ahead of the encounter, the 24-year-old Welshman said that he is keen on lifting the title. Bale had a difficult start to his life at Madrid, but he soon became an important part of the team along with Ronaldo. Manager Carlo Ancelotti builds his attack with Ronaldo and Bale flanking from two sides. This proved extremely difficult for opposition to defend, as it was proved in the semi-final against Bayern Munich.

Despite being a dominant force, Bayern struggled to deal with the deadly counter-attack of Ronaldo and Bale.

“It’s a lot easier having a pre-season under your belt instead of waiting at home for a transfer to go through. I feel in much better shape this season. I feel I can start at a better tempo and performance so I’m looking forward to the season ahead. I feel in great shape. I don’t feel the pressure of being back home, it’s obviously a big match that we want to win and a trophy we want to win but it’s another game where I have to put 110% in to try and perform my best,” said Bale.

Evans Still Has Hope

Blackburn Rovers midfielder Corry Evans says that he does not think that the race for the play-offs is over yet with one match remaining in the season. Blackburn go into the final match with the capability to finish in the play-offs still not gone away from them mathematically. However, it will take a lot of miracles in order to ensure that is the case. Blackburn were extremely poor in the middle of the campaign, but they have recovered spectacularly in the last few weeks. They have been known as the inform teams in the Championship as a result of it.

The future of manager Gary Bowyer was confirmed only recently and he will be the club’s manager into next season. However, he would be extremely happy if the club reached the play-offs in order to get a chance to return to the Premier league. It has been two seasons since the club were relegated to the second edition of English football. They, however, need a string of results to go their way apart from being able to beat Wigan, who are also fighting for the play-off places.
Former Hull city midfielder Corry Evans says that it is definitely going to be difficult for Blackburn, but he is not giving up hope yet.

“The season’s not dead for us going into the last game – there’s still something to play for. From my experience with Hull last season, when it went right to the wire, I know anything can happen in football. All we can do is worry about ourselves and get the three points. At the start there were a lot of new faces coming into Blackburn, including myself, so it was always going to take time to get to know each other and gel,” said the midfielder, who was outstanding against Charlton last week.