Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid are convinced that they will join forces in the “transfer of the century” sooner or later, even if an enforced period of rehabilitation, after an ankle operation yesterday, has increased Manchester United’s prospects of keeping the forward at Old Trafford for one more season.

Ramón Calderón, the Real president, stated on Sunday evening that Ronaldo’s ankle injury, which will force him to miss the opening weeks of the new season, could prompt the club to rethink their pursuit of the Portugal forward in the immediate future, but yesterday he implied that the move is a question of when rather than if. That view is also held by Ronaldo, who continues to tell friends that, even if injury or, more pertinently, Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, denies him his “dream” move this summer, he regards his eventual transfer to Real as an inevitability.

United maintain that they will not sell Ronaldo under any circumstances or for any price, with Ferguson and David Gill, the chief executive, sharing the belief that Real are deluding themselves barely a year after the player signed a five-year contract. But Calderón, whose repeated contradictions invite some scepticism, spoke clearly for once yesterday when he suggested that Ronaldo is certain to get the transfer he craves and that United would be wrong to deny him that move in the long term.

“I think that it is the desire of the player [to join Real],” Calderón said. “But Manchester should not be angry. They should open up their stance. We cannot be blamed if nearly every player wants to come to Real Madrid. If I was Manchester United, I would be happy and proud to be able to negotiate such a transfer for one of my players. Everything would be a lot easier if United realised that they could pull off the transfer of the century.

“It depends on the player, on Ronaldo. Since I have known football, it has been the case that the desires of the footballer are what decide matters. If Ronaldo wants to leave Manchester, he will leave. If he wants to stay, he will stay. I don’t think you can keep anyone in a place where they don’t want to be, not even in a family.”

Ronaldo wants to join Real, but he has not demanded a transfer and he even dropped his plan to make a statement outlining his future after Portugal’s elimination from Euro 2008. Despite this, it is unlikely that he will have cleared the air with Ferguson before his scheduled return to preseason training next week. Carlos Queiroz, the assistant manager, would be the obvious mediator, but he has other priorities as he looks to finalise his appointment as Portugal coach.

Ronaldo had a hand in that move, having been among a group of players who urged the Portuguese football federation to appoint Queiroz in succession to Luiz Felipe Scolari, the new Chelsea manager. The appointment of Queiroz should be confirmed as soon as the Portuguese federation has agreed a compensation package with United, leaving Ferguson with the task of looking for a new No 2. Two internal candidates - Brian McClair and Rene Meulensteen - have been mooted, but Ferguson will scour the world in search of a fitting replacement for the highly influential Queiroz.

Queiroz has urged Ronaldo to stay at United, but the player is more likely to be dictated to by fate or, more specifically, injury. He had surgery in Amsterdam yesterday on his right ankle, which caused him trouble in the final weeks of last season and throughout Euro 2008, and will miss the start of the season. Under normal circumstances United might have regarded that as a blow, but the injury may represent their best hope of keeping Ronaldo, at least for the time being.