Ronaldo opens contract talks with United

'We have talked and I hope to reach agreement as soon as possible' Cristiano Ronaldo has begun negotiations with Manchester United over extending his contract beyond 2010. Ronaldo has been in scintillating form for United this season - leading the team's scorers with 16 goals - and although he only signed his current deal at the beginning of last season, reported interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid appears to have nudged Sir Alex Ferguson into strengthening his hold on the Portuguese midfielder. However, despite Ronaldo saying today that he was keen to sign a new deal as soon as possible, Ferguson will still have been dismayed to hear his prize asset insist that he would like to play in Spain sooner or later. "We have talked and I hope to reach agreement as soon as possible," Ronaldo told Portuguese radio station Antena 1 today. "Nothing has been decided yet and I would like to stay. I would like to play in Spain one day, but I am happy here at Manchester." "You can never be certain of anything in life, but I am happy here and I want to stay here. In football there are no guarantees. If I don't leave now, if I leave in two, three, four, five years I would be happy, I am at a great club." Allan Smith, The Forgotten Man Sir Alex Ferguson is pinning his hopes on forgotten man Alan Smith to guide Manchester United through their ill-timed striker crisis. Less than a fortnight after Jose Mourinho claimed United were getting all the luck in the battle for silverware, suddenly the injury curse has struck Old Trafford. While lengthy absences for Darren Fletcher and Mikael Silvestre - who United officials confirmed dislocated his right shoulder against Lille - are a cause for concern, it is the problems up front which will cause Ferguson the most headaches. With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer out for another fortnight following minor knee surgery and Louis Saha sidelined for four weeks after suffering a hamstring strain in training on Tuesday, Henrik Larsson's return to Sweden next Wednesday could not have come at a worse time. References: football.guardian, teamtalk.com