Real's Valdano says 50-50 chance of signing Ronaldo

Real Madrid have a 50 percent chance of signing Inter Milan's Brazilian striker Ronaldo, the Spanish club's sporting director Jorge Valdano has said.

Real president Florentino Perez had a face-to-face meeting with his opposite number at Inter Massimo Moratti on Thursday to discuss the possible transfer of the 25-year-old, top scorer during Brazil's triumphant World Cup campaign.

Valdano said the meeting between the two presidents had paved the way for discussions between himself and Inter director-general Massimo Moretti, although he stressed that there were still substantial differences to overcome.

"We will be starting conversations that we hope will be definitive," Valdano told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser on Friday.

"There is a 50 percent chance (of signing the player). We have made progress in the negotiations and there is a clear desire for one side to buy and the other to sell."

"The economic differences are still very large, though, and we will have to see if it is possible to reach an agreement."

Valdano made it clear that the nine-times European champions, who have broken the world transfer record twice in the last two years to bring in Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane, would not be making another huge outlay for the Inter striker.

"We made very big strategic investments to bring Figo and Zidane to the club, but the market has now changed and we do not intend to pay a similar amount again," he said.

Valdano confirmed that Real's idea was to sign Ronaldo in a players-plus-cash deal.

Spanish internationals Fernando Morientes and Pedro Munitis, Argentine winger Santiago Solari and Brazilian midfielder Flavio Conceicao have all been linked with the deal in the past week.

Ronaldo joined Inter from Barcelona before the 1997/1998 season but has spent most of the last three seasons on the sidelines following a serious knee injury. His contract runs until 2006.