Call of home to Manchester United was too strong for Cristiano Ronaldo to resist

He was not on the shortlist because Manchester United never thought Juventus would sell. Even at 36, he is still an outstanding acquisition.

Cristiano Ronaldo will return to Manchester United after th club reached an agreement to re-sign from Juventus.

A video was circulating on Twitter on Thursday that demonstrated the sense of betrayal that many Manchester United fans felt after Cristiano Ronaldo opened talks with Manchester City about a move to the Etihad Stadium.

In the short video clip, a United supporter places an old replica home shirt, with Ronaldo’s name and the No 7 on the back, on to a pole in his back garden.

The fan steps to one side, flicks his cigarette lighter open and torches the shirt. The fact that the jersey disintegrates in seconds suggests that it has been doused in a flammable liquid.

The supporter in question was no doubt regretting his actions by 4.50pm yesterday. It was at that time that many millions of United fans learnt from the official club app that Ronaldo would in fact be moving to Old Trafford rather than the Etihad.

Many — not least the man with the flambeed shirt — probably still did not believe the news. How on earth had United managed to nab Ronaldo?

That was a question that many City supporters were asking too. Less than 24 hours earlier, the word coming out of the Ronaldo camp was that United was not an option.

What happened in the final hours of Thursday and the following morning depends on whose version of events you believe.

City insisted yesterday that talks with Ronaldo never reached an advanced stage. Yes, there was a modicum of interest from City — and they claimed that he wanted to sign for them too - but on the whole he was not the kind of player that they usually go for. City said they sensed that Ronaldo felt their reticence during talks and that the player started looking elsewhere.

Another source contradicted that claim, however, insisting that City had documents prepared to announce Ronaldo’s signing earlier in the week.

Indeed, The Times learnt last night that City told Ronaldo that they wanted to sign him, but asked him to hold fire on a decision while they worked out how to structure the deal.

Still, there was a sense yesterday that City were trying to play down the idea that they were in for Ronaldo. One member of Pep Guardiola’s staff described United’s purchase of Ronaldo as a “knee-jerk signing”.

United’s version of events differs. They believe that Ronaldo had offers from several clubs but as soon as United declared their interest, he ignored the others because he was so determined to return.

The story from United was that Ronaldo still loves the club and felt he had unfinished business at Old Trafford, which was his home from the age of 18 to 24.

Ronaldo’s departure from United to Real Madrid in 2009 was a little fractious, however. “You don’t think we’d get into a contract with that mob, do you? Jesus Christ, I wouldn’t sell them a virus,” Sir Alex Ferguson famously said during Ronaldo’s final season for United, which was plagued by rumours of a move to the Bernabeu.

That does not mean that Ronaldo lost any affection for United though. In August 2014, the day before United played Real Madrid in a friendly in Michigan, Ronaldo made a beeline for Paddy Crerand, the United legend, in the tunnel. “When are you coming back then?” were Crerand’s first words to Ronaldo. The two men had grown close during Ronaldo’s time at Old Trafford, when Crerand worked as a pundit for MUTV, as he does now. Crerand, the straightest of straight talkers, always had Ronaldo’s back.

“All this talk about his ego is a load of shite,” the 1968 European Cup winner once said of the Portugal star.

Ronaldo was not on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s shortlist at the start of the summer - he never thought Juventus would sell - and one could argue that United should have prioritised a midfield signing instead, but Ronaldo is still an outstanding acquisition even at 36.

How different is he from the man who ripped up the Premier League well over a decade ago, though?

Ronaldo may be in the twilight of his career, but his statistics demonstrate that he is still a top-class player. He has scored 20 goals or more in his past 12 seasons. In total, Ronaldo scored 101 goals and recorded 22 assists during his 134 appearances for Juventus. No United player, except Bruno Fernandes, has come close to that kind of prolific return.

Had Juventus’s finances not been damaged by the pandemic, Ronaldo would not be leaving.

“Many fans are unhappy that he will leave,” Andrea Ramazzotti, a reporter for Corriere Dello Sport, said.

“Juventus bought him to try to win the Champions League, which they didn’t, but if you look at the numbers you cannot say he had three bad seasons because he scored 101 goals, won two Scudettos, two Super Cups and one Coppa Italia.”

Solskjaer hopes that Ronaldo will have a big impact in the dressing room too. The Norwegian has a young and largely inexperienced squad. This was pointed out to Edinson Cavani’s representatives when United started negotiations with them last season. Ronaldo, like Cavani, knows what it takes to win major trophies. The likes of Marcus Rashford (23), Mason Greenwood (19) and Jadon Sancho (21) need inspirational figures like Ronaldo around them.

Solskjaer already has a plethora of attacking options to choose from, so where is Ronaldo going to fit into the team?

Many have speculated that Ronaldo will play at centre forward, but he resisted requests from Maurizio Sarri, Andrea Pirlo and Massimiliano Allegri, his three managers at Juventus, to play in that position.

“The left wing is the only position in which he can play now and that is where he wants to play,” Ramazzotti said. “He wants to cut into the centre and shoot with his right foot.”

Ronaldo will not just stick to one position though. Last season he was something of a fox in the box, scoring 12 of his 36 goals inside the six-yard area.

The left wing is United’s strongest position. Paul Pogba, Rashford, Anthony Martial and Daniel James like to play there. Will the likes of James, Jesse Lingard and Martial want to stick around given that Ronaldo will want to start pretty much every game?

How will Pogba react, too? He has played the best football of his United career on the left wing in the past two matches. It is possible to redeploy Pogba in midfield, of course. And the signing of such a stellar name could even persuade the Frenchman to sign a new contract, as it shows the club mean business once more.

The Times