Real Ronaldo Claims Rile Sir Alex

Sir Alex Ferguson has hit out at Real Madrid over claims Manchester United have agreed to sell Cristiano Ronaldo to the Spanish giants.

Real director Pedro Trapote reportedly told Spanish newspaper El Mundo a deal had been struck, but added: "There are clauses keeping us from announcing it".

Speaking after his side beat Gamba Osaka in the World Club Cup, the United boss reacted furiously to the comments.

"Would I get into a contract with that mob? Absolutely no chance," he said.

"I wouldn't sell them a virus - that's a no. There's no agreement whatsoever between the clubs.

"I said to David Gill a year last summer, when we sold Gabby Heinze, you can bet your life in January it will all start up with Ronaldo again. It'll happen again this January, believe me.

"We've just got to ignore it because if we keep worrying about what Real are going to say then we are not going to concentrate on our own programme of difficult games coming up.

"Sometimes it can be an angry situation and sometimes we are really annoyed with them, but we know the game and I think we should just play our game and ignore it all."

Ronaldo has also responded to the claims saying he is happy to stay at Old Trafford and is unaware of Real's reported interest.

"I don't care. I don't see newspapers," he said. "We are out here in Japan and I don't know nothing, what's happened around me.

"I am very happy (at Man Utd), very happy."

Trapote, understood to be very close to club president Ramon Calderon, had gone on record to tell El Mundo: "We have already signed our top target for next summer.

"Is it Cristiano Ronaldo? It is Cristiano, there is no-one else. The thing is, it is better not to say anything right now."

BBC Manchester's Steve Wyeth, who is out in Japan following United's progress at the World Club Cup, had earlier said the news has been greeted with anger by United officials.

"It's been strongly dismissed, and with pretty colourful language," said Wyeth.

The latest twist in the Real Madrid-Ronaldo story could well open wounds between the clubs following the acrimonious dealings between United and the Spanish giants over the summer.

Real's public pursuit of the 23-year-old ended with United complaining to Fifa over their conduct, with Ferguson claiming they had shown "a lack of morals".

The case was dismissed because of a lack of evidence, and Ronaldo later told Spanish sports paper Marca in October that he is "with Manchester in body and soul".

Ronaldo, this year's Ballon D'Or winner, is currently contracted at Old Trafford until 2012 and Ferguson has been delighted with his improvement since arriving at Old Trafford as a raw teenager in 2003.

"Over the five years he has been with us, we have seen him develop into the player he is today," he added.

"He always had certain attributes that pointed him towards the very top - his amazing skill, his speed and his courage. In the time he has been with us, he has developed his decision-making.

"As a kid he played centre-forward for Sporting Lisbon and our people in Portugal kept telling us that 'this boy is a great goalscorer.'

"When he first came to us, we couldn't see that. All of a sudden he just blossomed and last season he got 42.

"That is a measure of a young person wanting to do well, to improve himself by his own determination and ambition to practise all the time."