EDIT:- It also strikes me as being similar to many other deals, being pushed out by ungrateful fans rather than wanting to leave. EVERY player when asked if he wants to go somewhere else does the correct business thing, they say maybe in the future i'd love to, its called not closing doors and screwing yourself. What if UTD go bankrupt and stop being a football club in 3 years, he wants to go to Real, but he can't because he responded " no they suck , why would I ever want to go to Real with their stupid fans and a team that can't compete" .
By being the most successful player in the team, but not having quite as fantastic a year as last year all you've got all year is fans calling him inconsistant and saying they want to see the back of him because he's not good anymore. I'd leave after a year where fans are telling you to smeg off aswell.
UTd fans are also wetting themselves over 80million, Real are happy to pay it, £30-40mil for the player, £40mil for the brand. How much do you think Ronaldo brings to Utd in terms of image money, shirts sold worldwide, how often is he in the press, how often is he scoring how often do you win titles. A run to the final and winning the champs league, with the actual winnings, and tv money coming up to around 100million, I think its some 10mil + just for winning the final. What if you go out in the quarter finals next year, thats gonna be 25mil + lost straight away, not winning the title, you'll lose another 10mil, not being champions so ad money isn't "as" big, smaller shirt sales over the coming years. 80millions isn't huge money, for a player that makes the difference between winning and not, he could be worth a LOT more than 80million.