Ronaldo, Helguera not moving.

Real Madrid's hopes of finding new clubs for Ronaldo and Ivan Helguera were dashed before Thursday's transfer deadline.

Madrid was reportedly aiming to swap Ronaldo for Inter Milan striker Adriano in a move which would take him to the club he played for from 1997 to 2002, and defender Helguera was to join Valencia in return for Argentina's Roberto Ayala.

However, the Italian deadline for registering new players passed with Ronaldo remaining a Madrid player, the website of sports daily Marca said.

Inter owner Massimo Moratti said earlier in the day that he didn't believe the deal would go through as neither club was making a concerted effort.

Meanwhile, Helguera's possible move was scrapped when Valencia said that Ayala would stay with the club at least until he sees out the final year of his contract.

The defender, who had been at odds with Valencia due to its failure to offer him a new contract, was shown on the club's website warmly shaking the hand of president Juan Soler.

A third deal involving an exchange between Brazil forward Julio Baptista and Arsenal forward Jose Antonio Reyes was reportedly close to being completed.

Baptista didn't train with Madrid on Thursday amid reports he was in London taking a medical and processing a work permit.