AFTER weeks of speculation, Ronaldo will attempt to force Manchester United's hand by meeting club manager Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill to insist he be allowed to move to Real Madrid.

Ronaldo is due in Amsterdam to meet the surgeon who operated on his ankle, before flying to Manchester tomorrow. In his absence, United beat Espanyol 1-0 in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's testimonial.

Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster confirmed that his club was continuing to work on a deal, with sources in Spain suggesting there had been a considerable softening in the English club's previously stubborn stance.

"We'll have to see what's going to happen," Schuster said.

"We always knew that it was going to be a complicated matter. It will obviously not be easy for him to come to Madrid, but put the question to any football coach and all of them would say they'd love to have a player like Ronaldo."

Ronaldo has told Madrid of his intentions in an attempt to appease its frustration at his lack of agitation for a move from Old Trafford. Real will offer United £68 million ($A144 million) but need Ronaldo to force United into the sale.

If Ronaldo succeeds in getting United to sell him, it will allow Real to sanction the £30 million ($A63.5 million) sale of Robinho to Chelsea, the terms of which have been agreed in principle.

United would reinvest some of the money from any deal in pushing through its attempts to sign Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham.

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