SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - Cristiano Ronaldo will undergo ankle surgery, making the star winger likely to miss the start of the season with Manchester United.

Ronaldo, 23, is set to be operated on next week after playing with pain over the final two months of the English Premier League season and through the European Championship, where his Portuguese side fell in the quarter-finals to Germany.

The new Premier League campaign begins in mid-August.

Despite talk of a possible transfer to Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid, Ronaldo appears likely to stay with United, which won its second straight Premiership title along with the Champions League last season.

Ronaldo signed a five-year contract extension with United last April, tying him to the club until the end of the 2011-12 season. In order for Ronaldo to join Real Madrid, United would first have to agree to sell him, but the Spanish club has gone on record as saying they would break the bank to buy the Portuguese winger.

Spanish media reports last month suggested Real Madrid would consider tabling a world-record $196-million Cdn offer to United for the services of the Portuguese star, who joined the English club from Sporting Lisbon in 2003.

But Ronaldo, who scored 42 goals in all competitions last season for United and is the early favourite for FIFA player of the year honours, has not submitted a transfer request.

With files from the Associated Press

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