Football's world governing body responded to United's complaints over Real's public courtship of the Portuguese star on Monday evening by announcing that no action would be taken against the Spanish giants at this stage.

However, FIFA did issue a warning to Real of the consequences of inducing the Portugal winger to breach his contract.

The announcement came sooner than United perhaps had perhaps expected and the club might well have welcomed FIFA taking longer to respond, as it would no doubt have helped to keep a lid on speculation to a certain extent for as long as their deliberations continued.

However, they will have been encouraged the Spanish federation have been asked to speak to Real representatives.

FIFA's statement read: "We can confirm that we received last week a formal complaint from Manchester United related to the player Cristiano Ronaldo and the club Real Madrid. From the documentation received, no breach of contract appears to have occurred yet.

"Therefore, in accordance with the applicable practice, no kind of formal procedure has been opened by FIFA regarding this matter.

"The Spanish Football Federation has been informed of the complaint lodged by the English club and been asked to remind its member club Real Madrid about the potential legal consequences of a breach of contract without just cause during the protected period and of a possible inducement to such a breach of contract, as established by the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players."