Premier League / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 11 June 2009 / Leave a comment

As Manchester United accept Real Madrid's bid for Ronaldo, the 2009 Premier League champions drift in the betting to defend their title...

Manchester United have this morning accepted a world record £80 bid from Real Madrid for Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo. A representative of the Premier League champions emphasised the player's desire to leave as a significant factor in their decision to accept the bid.

Of course Ronaldo is not a Real Madrid player just yet, he will have to undergo a medical and accept personal terms before the deal is done and dusted. But Betfair's "Ronaldo to stay" market, that asks whether he will still be a registered Man Utd player on September 3, suggests the Portuguese captain has played his last game for Man Utd with the "yes" option currently trading at [15.0]. He had been backed at a low of [1.2] to remain a Man Utd player.

The proposed transfer has dramatically altered Betfair's Premier League 2009/10 market. At the weekend Man Utd were trading at [2.6] to retain the title, having traded as low as [2.32] when the market first went up, but they are now out to [3.1] with Chelsea just behind them at [3.35].

Similar to London buses, you wait for one of the world's premier players to move clubs and then two do it in the space of three days. Real Madrid had already secured the services of Brazilian playmaker Kaka on Monday afternoon and assuming Ronaldo joins him in the Spanish capital, Real will have a truly fearsome team that some are already labelling 'Galacticos 2.0'.

Their activity in the transfer market has seen Los Merengues shorten for the Champions League where they are now second-favourites to win it at [6.8], just behind Barcelona ([5.6]) and marginally ahead of [7.0] Man Utd. Real had traded as high as [16.0] before their summer spending spree began.

On a day when London buses will be busier than usual, it's safe to say that Man Utd's activity in the transfer market will be pretty frenetic in the next few weeks as well as if the deal does go through, the search for his replacement will be their main priority for the summer.