Manchester United director Sir Bobby Charlton says the club has accepted Cristiano Ronaldo's decision to quit for Real Madrid.

"Ronaldo leaves us because as a young boy he always dreamt about playing for Real Madrid, so if he leaves us it is with our blessing," said Charlton, who was in Beijing today on club business. "We are very grateful that he has scored goals, that he has played well, that he's contributed to the fame of Manchester United."

Charlton said the transfer was "a good deal and a fair deal" for Manchester United, who now have considerable resources to acquire new attacking talent to play alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and the veterans Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

"It is an enormous amount of money and it sometimes [seems] a little bit vulgar," Charlton said. "But nevertheless that is business, I am afraid. We have responsibilities as a company.

"It's a lot of money. It seems crazy really, but the more money the players cost, the more the television companies appear to be able to contribute that little bit more too.

"It is a little bit of soul-searching. You wonder if you made the right decision. We shall never know until the season starts."

On finding a replacement, United legend Charlton added: "He is a great judge of the player. Alex Ferguson is very brave, he's very brave with his decisions, he's very decisive with his decisions, and that is why he's been a major success."