Whenever Cristiano Ronaldo is asked where he wants to be next season, his general response is something along the lines of: I am very happy here. I owe a lot to the manager. I have won lots of things here and I want to win more. But only God knows the future.

All this talk of God only started to really take precedence in the summer, when Ronaldo was set for a move to the Spanish giants. He’d flirted with the idea a couple of summers before, but last summer it was almost set in stone, as far as he was concerned anyway.

“I want to say that I was the one that was responsible for all this controversy,” after he confirmed he was staying. “It wasn’t their fault because it was me that said publicly that I wanted to move to Real Madrid. It was also me, although wholly unintentionally, that caused the friction between the two clubs. I knew that Real Madrid was interested in signing me and that they had, allegedly, made a very substantial offer to Manchester United. For a while, I wanted Manchester to accept the offer and for me to move to Madrid. If I denied it I would be deceiving everyone, including myself. I never hid the fact that I wanted to play in Spain, at Real Madrid in particular, and I thought this could be the right moment.”

Whilst I’m not Ronaldo’s biggest fan these days, even in the summer I made it clear I understood his position. I understand and respect his reasons for wanting to join Real Madrid. If I was a superstar at Real Madrid and Sir Alex Ferguson came knocking I’d be off in a heart beat, regardless of what Real had done for me.

My irritation came with the way he handled the situation. He said after the European Cup final that he was going to stay, then he said he didn’t know, then he kept telling us that an announcement would be made in a few days, and a week later, he’d say the same thing, then he joked about how he loved to play in white etc. It just all got a bit too much. He was like some spoilt kid who was enjoying the limelight and attention too much to think about us, the fans, who’d been singing his name week in week out and defending him to every one who’d had a go. So he’d have a laugh and a joke with the media, flirt with the idea of joining them, whilst not actually saying he wanted to go, but not actually saying he wanted to stay either.

But whatever, that’s all by the by now. Some fans have completely forgiven him, some fans are undecided, whilst others think he’s a complete twat. This article isn’t about our opinions on Ronaldo following last summer though, rather what we expect to come this summer.

It was only two weeks ago Ronaldo avoided the question of what would happen with a “I’m very happy in the present and only God knows the future” response. After watching Real Madrid get absolutely spanked by those twats down East Lancs Road, I will be entirely insulted if he actually wants to leave us for that pile of dross. Christ. Losing 5-0 on aggregate to Rafael Benitez’s merry men?

Gabby, get on the phone and tell Ronaldo just how great it feels to be a Real Madrid player tonight!