Ronaldo must be patient to make impact in La Liga

Published on Tuesday 22 July 2008 21:51

WITH Barcelona undergoing a period of reconstruction following the departure of Ronaldinho and Deco and a change of coach, the last thing they would want for next season would be a significantly strengthened Real Madrid.

In particular, the Catalan club might fear the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo at the Bernabeu should the Manchester United forward get his wish to leave England for Spain.

Asked his opinion on the Portuguese player's prospective move, however, Thierry Henry yesterday declined to offer Ronaldo any advice. "That's up to him really," the former Arsenal striker said. "I'm not going to tell him."

The one aspect of the situation Henry was willing to discuss was the benefit of making the move from English football to the Spanish game.

He suggested that Ronaldo already had such ability that it might not be easy for him to improve any technical aspects of his play, but did say that he personally had acquired greater match awareness since leaving London.

"I don't think I can tell him anything about technique," he said. "But the one thing I learned from my time in Spain is to be patient. I got caught offside so many times last year because I expected the ball to come early and it never came.

"It is a different style to England. You have to adapt and learning to be patient is one of the biggest things."

At present Manchester United appear intent on denying Ronaldo what he has described as his dream move to join Real, the Spanish champions for the past two seasons. He is under contract at Old Trafford, and manager Sir Alex Ferguson has told the player that joining Real Madrid would be "the worst thing he could do".