Sir Alex Ferguson sought to bring an end to the intense speculation surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo’s future last night by emphasising that the Portugal forward will be staying at Manchester United after a summit meeting with the player this week.

Ferguson held talks with Ronaldo in Lisbon on Monday, as revealed by The Times yesterday. He refused to disclose details of a meeting he described as “amicable” but the United manager insisted that the player would stay.

Ronaldo has made no secret of his desire to join Real Madrid and even likened his situation at Old Trafford to that of a slave in a recent television interview after suggesting that United were holding him against his wishes.

Whether Ferguson has ordered Ronaldo, who is only 12 months into a £120,000-a-week, five-year contract, to stay at the club or the player has had a dramatic, if unlikely, change of heart is unclear, but the manager has drawn a line under the matter.

Speaking shortly after his arrival in Cape Town for the first leg of United’s pre-season tour to South Africa, Ferguson, whose team play Kaizer Chiefs today, said: “The meeting went well. We both made our points of view about where I stand and where the player stands and what I can say is that he will be a Manchester United player next summer. He won’t be sold.”

Reports had emanated that Ferguson would travel to Austria and Switzerland to confront Ronaldo during the European Championship finals last month, but he insisted that it was never his intention to cut short his holiday in the South of France.

“I was not going to interrupt my holiday for the simple reason that the boy is under contract,” Ferguson said, explaining his decision to break his silence on Ronaldo’s future only now. It seems likely that Ferguson has demanded that Ronaldo remain, perhaps on the condition that he can leave next summer, but the prospect of him leaving any time soon has receded.

Having undergone ankle surgery that will rule him out of action until October, Ronaldo, 23, has not travelled to South Africa with the rest of a United squad that could be bolstered over the next week by the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur.

United are expected to lodge an improved offer for the Bulgaria striker after having an opening bid of £20.5 million rejected.

United declined to comment yesterday after Patrice Evra, the left back, was charged with improper conduct and Rio Ferdinand, the central defender, was warned about his future behaviour after a three-month investigation by the FA into events that occurred after Chelsea’s win at Stamford Bridge on April 26.

Chelsea reacted with outrage to the news that Steve Bethell, their groundsman, had been charged with improper conduct and using abusive language during a clash with Evra, claiming that there was “no foundation” behind the inference of racial abuse. No hearing dates have yet been set.