Real Madrid players irritated by Ronaldo transfer saga

Real Madrid players have become frustrated with the constant speculation over Cristiano Ronaldo’s possible transfer from Manchester United which Spanish media reported Tuesday had become bogged down.

“There is a little disrespect going on because a team does not rely on one player, even if he is very good. Pele and Maradona won major games, but they had help from their peers,” Real’s Portuguese midfielder Pepe said in an interview with Spanish sports daily AS.

Real directors concluded at a meeting on Monday night that it would be “very difficult” to bring Ronaldo to the Spanish side for the 85 million euros (134 million US dollars) which they were offering, the newspaper added.

Some Real directors, meanwhile, are reluctant to fork over a small fortune to sign the 23-year-old, preferring instead to bring Valencia’ David Villa or Hamburg’s Rafael van der Vaart to the club, rival paper Marca reported.

Ronaldo, who is recovering from an operation on his right ankle carried out earlier this month, has remained silent in recent days over his plans.

He has persistently spoken of how it would be a “dream” to play for Real.

Ronaldo, who scored an impressive 42 goals last term as United won both the Premier League and Champions League, is under contract at Old Trafford until 2012 and the English side have made it clear they will not let him go.

He signed a new five-year contract with Manchester in April 2007 after being linked with a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Ronaldo joined the English side in August 2003 from Portuguese first division side Sporting Lisbon on a five-year contract which he extended by a further two years in November 2005.