The Cristiano Ronaldo to Spain saga resurfaced on Wednesday when a Real Madrid director was quoted as saying that Manchester United had agreed to allow the Portuguese winger to move to the Bernabéu next summer.

According to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, only a confidentiality clause prevents Madrid from announcing the deal, while it also claims that other directors have privately leaked the news too.

The newspaper published a conversation between the Real Madrid director Pedro Trapote and a "very close confidant" which it claims took place two days ago.

"We have already signed the top player for next summer," El Mundo alleges Trapote to have said. "The top is the top. It is Cristiano, there is no one else. It's not bad, is it?"

But Trapote added: "It is better not to say anything right now because there are clauses that prevent us from announcing it right now. For us it would be the right moment [to go public] but we shouldn't do so."

Doubts remain, however, after the Madrid president, Ramón Calderón, himself privately briefed that Ronaldo's transfer was a certainty last summer only for him to remain at Old Trafford.