The season has still to end and already it appears that another summer of feverish speculation surrounding the future of Cristiano Ronaldo awaits, but the Manchester United player moved yesterday to allay fears that he may leave Old Trafford in the coming months by insisting that he was at the “right club”.

Ronaldo might have been partly to blame for the persistent rumours about his future by speaking on several occasions of his desire “one day” to play in Spain but, although he has said that he has been flattered by interest from Real Madrid, the Portugal winger is adamant that he has no plans to leave United after helping the club to retain their Barclays Premier League title.

“I’m at the right club, playing with the right players and I learn things all the time,” he said yesterday. “That’s what’s great about being at United. I improve all the time and I want to every season. I think I’m a better player now than five years ago.”

Sir Alex Ferguson has become accustomed to what he believes are Real’s deliberate attempts to unsettle Ronaldo, but as long as the two-time Footballer of the Year’s form remains unaffected by the speculation, the United manager will resist the temptation to report the Spanish club to Fifa for their brazen courting of a player who has scored 41 goals this term.

That decision has been reached partly because United are reluctant to draw any more attention to an issue that has reared its head with alarming regularity in recent months, but also because they believe that there is little that Fifa, the world governing body, would be prepared to do. In addition, Ferguson would no doubt argue that he has more pressing matters to attend to at present.

Having pipped Chelsea to the league title, United will hope to complete a memorable double a week today when they face Avram Grant’s team in the Champions League final in Moscow before Ferguson focuses his time and efforts on strengthening a squad that he already believes to be the strongest in his 22 years at Old Trafford.

United are thought to be close to signing Aaron Ramsey, the highly rated 17-year-old Cardiff City midfield player, and are in the hunt for another striker, with Luís Fabiano, the Seville and Brazil forward, figuring prominently in Ferguson’s thoughts. The manager is just as keen to tie Patrice Evra to a new contract and secure Carlos Tévez on a permanent deal.

Preliminary talks with Evra’s representatives have already taken place, but while the France left back is expected to commit his long-term future to the club, he raised some doubts when questioned on the matter yesterday. “My agent is speaking to the club,” Evra said. “There has been one meeting and there has been nothing since. I have one year left [on my existing deal].

“The ball is in Manchester United’s court. My job now is to concentrate on winning the Champions League. Let’s see what happens after that.”

Evra was more forthcoming about United’s prospects against Chelsea at the Luzhniki Stadium, where he will hope to erase the memory of a 3-0 defeat with AS Monaco in the 2004 Champions League final against FC Porto. “I don’t want to lose a final a second time,” Evra said. “It holds bad memories for me.

“I joke that I went to the final with Monaco in a Fiat and now I am going to it with the Ferrari, but now I need to drive the Ferrari very well.”

Ferguson, meanwhile, has hit out at the “ridiculous” cost of accommodation in and flights to Moscow and expressed dismay at the manner in which fans are exploited during showpiece occasions. Like Chelsea, United have yet to sell out their ticket allocations, mainly because of the costs involved in travelling to the Russian capital.

“It’s ridiculous some of the prices I’m hearing about — £800 for an airline ticket and they are charging £1,000 a room in some cases and if you want a single room it’s an extra £700,” Ferguson said. “It’s a true thing about these sorts of situations — the exploitation is ridiculous.”

Ferguson was keen to thank Grant for his congratulatory messages in the wake of United’s title triumph, but warned his Chelsea counterpart that friendships would be put on hold next week. “Avram has always been a good friend, but on the pitch it’s a battle, it’s war,” the United manager said. “We want to win, they want to win, so what do you expect?”

Bordeaux are weighing up a summer move for Mikaël Silvestre, the United defender, who has a year left on his contract at Old Trafford.