ASKED on Friday what it had cost his club’s billionaire owner to keep Cristiano Ronaldo cavorting down Premiership wings for another five years, Sir Alex Ferguson steadfastly refused to discuss numbers. Scant surprise. There had been figures enough dancing around the head of a young man who had established himself as the most desirable transfer target of what is shaping up to be football’s grandest ever spend.

Early last week Real Madrid officials had calmly allowed themselves to be linked with an €80m bid for Ronaldo. The previous month the player’s agent employed the pages of Portugal’s leading sports daily, A Bola, to inform United that the Spanish were offering his premier client €225,000 a week. From United came the message that Ronaldo could not expect to jump beyond Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney’s £100,000 weekly wages and that remained the unofficial Old Trafford line on Friday. Back in Portugal, however, Jorge Mendes was claiming a final settlement of €40m net - equivalent to £105,000 a week, after tax. Given that the agreement is understood to have included back-dated pay and a signing-on fee, it is safe to assume that Mendes’s version is closer to the reality than United’s.

Ronaldo’s timing has been typically precise - the market is smiling kindly on any premier performer negotiating a contract just now. The summit of the English game is awash with new money, bolstered by revised broadcasting contracts which guarantee every top-tier club additional revenues far in excess of the sums United will pay their best player. From the start of next season, Sky, Setanta, assorted foreign broadcasters and other electronic media will pay the Premier League £2.33 billion between them for three years of transmission rights. Domestic revenues are up 66%; those from overseas more than doubled.

Additional money will be filtered through to clubs through a share of basic rights topped up by a merit payment based on final league position. Where Chelsea earned £30.4m for winning last season’s title, next season’s bottom team will gross a similar sum. The 2007-08 champions will bank a rights cheque of more than £50m. On average, clubs will have at least £15m more to spend. The majority of the fresh funds will be directed towards player recruitment, swelling transfer fees, salaries, or both. Recent takeovers have added varying degrees of liquidity to Portsmouth, West Ham United, Aston Villa and Liverpool, with the latter slated for a £40m summer transfer fund. Though not bought out yet, Newcastle United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur are all on the market and ripe for similar reinvigoration.

At Chelsea, vastly improved contracts have been agreed with Didier Drogba and Michael Ess-ien. The Africans’ “golden handcuff” deals partly reflect an external pressure on the new wave of Premiership spending. As United quickly realised when renegotiating with Ronaldo, Spain’s largest clubs have come into even more fresh finance than their Premiership competitors. Real Madrid had just sold exclusive rights to league matches for £730m over seven years; Barcelona’s had gone for £670m. In Italy, Juven-tus are preparing to bankroll their return to Serie A with €50m of reinforcements, while AC Milan plan to extract Ronald-inho from Barcelona to restore themselves to title contention. Even in France wages have risen, courtesy of a £1.26 billion Canal Plus contract.

As more cash pursues the same restricted pool of talent across Europe, agents have increased clients’ bargaining power by threatening to exploit a previously ignored section of international transfer rules. Section IV of Fifa’s Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players details the circumstances in which footballers may terminate their contracts “without just cause”. Players under 28 can do so a minimum of three seasons after their current contract came into effect. Over 28, they need wait just two full seasons.

More astute clubs have begun to factor the regulations into their thinking, renegotiating key personnel at an earlier date and targeting players eligible for a buy out. Already this year the representatives of Frank Lampard, John Terry, Xabi Alonso and Gilberto Silva have issued threats of early termination. As the grand Premiership spend begins, all expect to join Ronaldo in a share of the wealth.

Premiership top earners

Weekly salaries
Thierry Henry (Arsena) £130,000
Michael Ballack (Chelsea) £121,000
Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea) £121,000
Frank Lampard (Chelsea ) £118,000
Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd) £105,000 (after tax)
Wayne Rooney (Man Utd) £100,000
Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd) £100,000
John Terry (Chelsea) £76,000

Who’s staying?
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal) under contract until 2014
Thierry Henry (Arsenal) under contract until 2010
Aaron Lennon (Tottenham) signed up until 2012
Didier Drogba (Chelsea) agreed contract until 2010
Joe Cole (Chelsea) four-year deal until 2010
Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd) contracted up 2009
Wayne Rooney (Man Utd) six-year deal until 2012

Yet to sign
Frank Lampard (Chelsea) current deal expires in 2009. Under Fifa rules he could buy out his contract this summer
John Terry (Chelsea) rejected a deal worth £6.3m a year until 2011. Can buy himself out next year
Xavi Alonso (Liverpool) can buy himself out this year