Ronaldo still lukewarm on Inter Milan

Christian Plumb, Reuters, Milan, Italy

A rift between Ronaldo and his club Inter Milan showed few signs of healing on Monday as a drama worthy of a Brazilian soap opera kept fans guessing about his future.

Officially, Ronaldo and Inter patched things up last week after his agent Alexandre Martins declared that he planned to remain with the club for the remaining four years of his contract and talks with Real Madrid brought no bid from the Spanish club.

But Martins said on Monday that Ronaldo would not be happy playing for Inter.

"He wants to leave," the agent said in a telephone interview. "But he will honor his contract because he is a professional."

Ronaldo himself broke his silence in a newspaper interview published on Monday and while he said he considered himself with Inter "for the moment", he left little doubt about where he would prefer to play.

"My understanding of soccer is Brazilian," he told sports newspaper Il Gazzettino. "Fun and imaginative, more attacking and less tactical than (Italian football) -- more like the Spanish style than the Italian way of playing.

"Spain is on more of a human scale than Italy and Milan. It has a different rhythm, less frenetic, more carefree," he continued. "And it has many players, like Roberto Carlos and (Zinedine) Zidane, who share my way of living our profession."

Images of a smiling Ronaldo going through his paces at the club's training ground continued to be a highlight of Inter's website, but Italian media focused on a different aspect of his workouts -- that they took place apart from most of the squad.

Coach Hector Cuper dismissed the significance of Ronaldo's lone workouts, but he stirred the pot by telling a Spanish radio station: "I've always thought that a player should stay at a club only if he's happy."

Despite Real Madrid's professed lack of interest in making a bid for Ronaldo -- Inter owner Massimo Moratti said last week he would not surrender the Brazilian for anything less than Euro 100 million (US$97.47 million) -- rumors continued to circulate that he could be bound for the Spanish capital.

"What player in the world would not want to play for Real Madrid," Martins said. "It's the best team in the world."

But he declined to comment on whether the Spanish club could change their mind about not making an offer. In the interview with Il Gazzettino, Ronaldo suggested Real Madrid were at the negotiating table, saying "I have to evaluate Real's offer with all my attention".

Among those raising hopes of a move to Spain was his World Cup teammate Roberto Carlos, who plays for Real Madrid and on Monday accused people of "muddying" Ronaldo's image.

"The only thing I can say is that I don't understand how the top scorer in the World Cup can come back and find he's not wanted," Roberto Carlos said at Real's training ground. "If he wants to come to Real Madrid it's because he's not comfortable where he is.

"I hope he does come out and speak because there are people muddying his image," he added.

Finally there was the question of when, and if, there would be a face to face meeting between Ronaldo and Moratti, whose holiday on the Tuscan coast was reported in any case to have been spoiled by bad weather.

"Moratti is the only one who can and should deal with the situation, finally meeting with Ronaldo," La Gazzetta dello Sport said in a front-page editorial below the headline "Free Ronaldo."

"Getting out of this dangerous situation would mean freeing up the player, Cuper, and above all the team, in one sense or another."