Ronaldo promises Real fans beautiful football

Real Madrid's new signing Ronaldo was officially unveiled at a presentation ceremony and promised to bring "beautiful" football to the Bernabeu.

"I want to thank Real Madrid president Florentino Perez for doing everything to bring me here," said the 25-year-old striker who signed a four-year contract after leaving Inter Milan for around 45 million euros.

"I also want to confirm that I had a very great desire to come to Real Madrid and I hope to respond with goals and some beautiful play so that I can live up to everything that is expected of me."

Smiling and looking relaxed in jeans and T-shirt, and no longer sporting his wedge-shaped World Cup haircut, the Brazilian player was then handed Real's famous all-white shirt by the club's honorary president Alfredo Di Stefano.

"This is a great day for Real Madrid," said Real president Perez. "The mixture of Real Madrid and Ronaldo is perfect because of the universal appeal that both possess.

"I have no doubt that he will help write many more glorious pages in the history of a club that already has a past that is brimming with success."

Ronaldo then donned the number 11 shirt that he will wear this season for the European champions - he agreed to leave his customary number nine to Real striker Fernando Morientes.

Real made it clear that the former Barcelona striker, who said after the World Cup that he wanted to leave Inter Milan for personal reasons, had made a considerable effort to join the club.

"Ronaldo is in Real Madrid because he wanted to be," said Perez. "What he did in order to join the club is definitely something out of the ordinary."

"We should never forget that and will make sure that the club returns the same affection that he has shown towards us."

Ronaldo joins midfielders Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane, the two most expensive players in world football, and celebrated striker Raul at Real Madrid which has an unrivalled record of success in European club football.

The Real president said the player had agreed both to take a pay cut as well as pay compensation to Inter for the loss of part of a contract they had with his sponsors, the sportswear giants Nike.

He also said that the club had covered itself if Ronaldo, who has spent much of the last three seasons on the treatment table, suffered another knee injury.

"The agreement with Inter includes a clause which allows us to stop paying for the player if he suffers the same injury," Perez told local television station Telemadrid. "Ronaldo himself has also said that he will renounce his salary if that happens."

Ronaldo, who flew into the military airbase of Torrejon on the outskirts of Madrid amid tight security on Sunday, underwent an exhaustive medical on Monday morning.

Real's chief of medical services Alfonso del Corral said that the Brazilian was still suffering some after-effects of his knee operations and that he would need to follow a special training programme for the next two to three weeks.

"We also have to recognise that we will always have to take special care of the knee if we are going to prevent a recurrence of the injury," he told Real Madrid TV.

Ronaldo will watch his new side open their league campaign against Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Monday night.