Ronaldo, Julio Baptista and Ivan Helguera were expected to leave Real Madrid before yesterday's transfer deadline, provided the club could arrange exchange deals.
Ronaldo would be swapped for Inter Milan striker Adriano to rejoin the club he played for from 1997-2002.
Midfielder Baptista would move to Arsenal, with Spain forward Jose Antonio Reyes achieving a long-awaited transfer to the Spanish club, and defender Helguera would join Valencia in return for Argentina's Roberto Ayala.
PHOTO: EPA
The deals would continue Real Madrid's transformation under new president Ramon Calderon and recently appointed coach Fabio Capello, who are seeking to end the club's three-year drought without a a major trophy.
Speculation has surrounded Ronaldo's future since March, when he threatened to quit the club after being regularly jeered by fans attending Madrid's home games.
Calderon recently suggested if the price was right he was prepared to offload the striker, who is under contract until 2008. The Spanish club held talks with AC Milan last week although the clubs failed to agree to a fee.
Capello reportedly prefers the style and youth of the 24-year-old Adriano to Ronaldo, who is five years older. Ronaldo has yet to play under Capello as he is recovering from knee surgery after the World Cup.
Ronaldo's position in the team is also threatened by the recent signing of Ruud van Nistelrooy from Manchester United.
The three-time world player of the year helped Madrid win the Spanish league in his first season, but the club has since won nothing in its longest streak without silverware since the early 1950s.
The Reyes-Baptista swap is said to hold the key to Ronaldo's departure, El Pais newspaper said.
Baptista's departure to Arsenal would free up one of the three places allocated to non-EU players in Madrid's squad and allow Adriano would take up the place.
Madrid has made earlier cash bids to sign Reyes, but Arsenal's insistence on a higher fee halted any deal.
The London club hoped to sign Baptista from Sevilla a year ago, although the Brazil midfielder instead chose to join Madrid in a 20 million euro (US$25 million) deal.
Baptista is regarded as dispensable by Capello, who has already brought in three other new players as well as van Nistelrooy -- Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson and Mahamadou Diarra.
Reyes, who joined Arsenal from Sevilla in January 2004 and who last year extended his contract to 2011, has long since shown interest in a return home.
The 22-year-old said last weekend he wouldn't play again in the English league and, with Atletico Madrid also interested, suggested he didn't mind which Spanish club he joined.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS