Sir Alex Ferguson is ready to pay a king's ransom of 150 thousand pounds (or 415 thousand NZ dollars) a week to keep Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford until 2014.
Real Madrid spent much of the summer courting the Portuguese forward president, and United were furious at the Spaniards' constant efforts to prise him away.
But Ferguson, who became embroiled in a war of words with Real chairman Ramon Calderon over the affair, said after yesterday's win over Hull in which Ronaldo scored twice that they've got the player we want, they've not got the player they would like.
Ronaldo is currently earning 120,000 pounds (NZ$ 330,000) a week in a deal through to 2012 and could buy himself out of the contract at the end of the season, so according to the Sunday Telegraph Ferguson has instructed the Old Trafford hierarchy to work on a new deal to ward off further Spanish overtures which he expects.
