Alex Ferguson hits the headlines again, this time by declaring the Ronaldo saga well and truly over – insisting once and for all that the player will be staying at United for the season.

“The matter is closed now. He [Ronaldo] is a Manchester United player – it’s finished. He’ll be playing here next season believe me. It’s finished”, proclaimed a defiant Ferguson today.

Meanwhile Madrid are also making noises that appear to confirm United’s claims.

“Van der Vaart is the first and possibly the only signing of the summer for Real Madrid,” remarked Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon today.

If we can take that as final confirmation it will make for an interesting twist to the season. Many a fantasy manager will have been hoping that Ronaldo is removed from the equation – now we face a big decision and a flurry of transfers in a couple of months time.

Ronaldo is currently recovering from surgery on an ankle injury and is due to travel to Amsterdam for an examination of the injury. A return in October is muted.

His return and entrance into our fantasy season will prompt major surgery to thousands of fantasy teams throughout the land. In some games managers will even need to plan for his return in their initial lineups, attempting to minimise the number of transfers required to bring in the midfielder who is by far the most expensive player across the various games.

There will be some doubts as to whether Ronaldo can replicate his impact of last season. The turn of events in the summer, plus the injury, could well have an affect on him and United may even take time to adjust to Ronaldo’s return.

Caution could be the opening gambit on his return then but the likelihood is that, come November at the very latest, we’ll see a lot of Gerrards, Lampards and Fabregas’ being shipped out to make way for the United man across the games.