The accepted wisdom is that Cristiano Ronaldo will spend at least one more season with Manchester United before considering the move to Spain that many believe is his destiny, but the Portugal forward was coy about his future as he appeared, however involuntarily, to raise the prospect that the Champions League final could be his swansong for the club.

United maintain that Ronaldo will be at Old Trafford next season - and even Real Madrid, his most persistent suitors, appear to have accepted that as they focus their efforts on trying to sign him in the summer of 2009 - but the 23-year-old was strangely unwilling to offer any guarantees about his future after his team's victory over Barcelona on Tuesday evening.

“What I want to do is play in the final and win the next game against West Ham to win the league,” he told Marca, the Madrid-based sports newspaper. “For my future, I neither know nor want to talk about it. After the Champions League final, we can talk about it.”

There have been reports in recent months suggesting that Ronaldo is in talks over a new contract that would increase his wages from £120,000 to £150,000 a week. United have been so irked by these rumours that they issued a statement last month to say that, having agreed his existing deal, which runs to 2012, barely 12 months ago, no such negotiations were taking place or planned.

One source close to Ronaldo has said that the player will be pursuing another new contract at the end of the season, but another said that it would make more sense to keep his options open.

For now, though, the focus for Ronaldo is on the Champions League final on May 21 and on ensuring that United travel to Moscow as champions of England. “It will be my first Champions League final and I feel very good,” he said. “But for now the most important thing is the league.”