Perez won't give up on Ronaldo

Real Madrid presidential hopeful Florentino Perez has claimed "an agreement" is in place for Cristiano Ronaldo to join the club.

Perez's comments in the Spanish press are bound to irritate Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scot firmly believes the Portuguese winger will see out his contract at Old Trafford.

Perez is anxious for Madrid to regain the high ground from Barcelona and questioned about Ronaldo, he told Marca: "He's also a player that would be very good if he came to Real Madrid. What I know is what I've read, that there is an agreement by means of which he would come for £80million..."

Asked if he would pay that amount, Perez said: "Next week we will look at the numbers and nobody should doubt that we are going to design with our sporting advisors a spectacular project."

Perez is the overwhelming favourite to return as Real Madrid president and could be installed as early as Monday without the need for elections if no other candidates step forward before the May 31 deadline.

There had originally been three other candidates who had announced they would be mounting bids.

But Eugenio Martinez Bravo, Juan Onieva and Eduardo Garcia have all pulled out of the running in the last fortnight, with the 57.4million euro (£50.3million) bank guarantee seeming to be the big stumbling block.

Kaka is another name on his wishlist and Perez added: "Until the competitions finish we are not going to talk with the clubs.

"But I've always spoken of my great relationship with (Milan vice-president Adriano) Galliani and this relationship maybe makes it easier that Kaka comes to Madrid."