Ronaldo arrived at United as a skinny year-old from Sporting Lisbon in with a bag of tricks. In six years under the tutelage of Alex Ferguson his physique and end product were transformed to lead United to three Premier League titles and Ferguson's final Champions League in He smashed the club's all-time goalscoring record at a rate of more than a goal a game, netting times in appearances.
After ending Real's long-wait for "La Decima", the club's 10th European Cup, he spearheaded a run of three consecutive Champions League wins between and United have not won a league title since Ferguson left in and have failed to even qualify for the Champions League regularly in the intervening years. Progress has been made in the nearly three years since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho, but the Norwegian is still to win a trophy as United boss and they finished a distant second to Manchester City in the Premier League last season.
The race for World Cup places: what every country needs in Europe. Gerrard hired by Villa, club that denied him dream Liverpool farewell. World Cup qualifying: What to watch for on every continent.
Messi vs. Ronaldo: Two superstars, two summer moves. How is it going? Who will Argentina turn to without Lionel Messi? Decision Day delivers drama and heartbreak. Now: Retired from playing, year-old Rooney is Derby County manager and working wonders in the Championship at a club that has been stricken by administrative punishments. Now: Agbonlahor announced his retirement in March , aged 32, having spent time without a club following his Villa exit.
Now: Aged 40, Santa Cruz is remarkably still going strong in his native Paraguay with Club Olimpia and is the oldest active player in this list. Now: Happily retired and carrying a more muscular frame Google him! Now: Young returned to the Midlands club in the summer following a successful spell with Internazionale and, aged 36, he has made four Premier League appearances so far this season. Ferguson played his part in ensuring the five-time Ballon d'Or winner signed for United after deciding to leave Juventus this summer, just when it looked like Ronaldo could do the unthinkable and join rivals Manchester City.
It also had long been the ambition of executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward to bring him back. United are not hiding the fact that they didn't begin the summer transfer window with plans to sign Ronaldo. The answer from United at the time was a polite no, partly because of a belief that he would decide to see out the final year of his contract in Turin, and partly because of the numbers involved -- especially for a player who, while at the peak of his fitness, turns 37 in February -- but also because their priorities in the transfer market were elsewhere.
Then came Harry Kane 's announcement, made on Wednesday , that he would not be moving to City this summer and instead would remain at Tottenham for at least another year.
With no prospect of signing their top target, City began looking into other options and before long, Mendes was back on the phone. The response this time was more positive than it had been in June and with Ronaldo finally making a decision to leave Juventus, even missing a training session last week, City began looking at how to make a deal work.
Still, on Thursday, City had agreed to keep talking to Mendes, but by then, things were already changing. As the prospect of Ronaldo joining City became more and more real and United fans began expressing their outrage, his former United teammates Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra , Portugal teammate Bruno Fernandes , and Ferguson all got involved.
For their part, Ferdinand and Ferguson told him simply "you cannot sign for City. On Thursday night, Mendes received a proposal from United. On Friday morning, conversations with Juventus began and United assured the Italian club they were prepared to pay a fee, something City had so far resisted. When United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's weekly news conference began at p.
UK time on Friday, he was already confident Ronaldo was coming back. Each question about Ronaldo was batted away by Solskjaer until, right at the end, he said pointedly "he knows what we feel about him and if he is going to move, he knows we are here. The cat was out of the bag. City sources insist they pulled out well before Guardiola began his own news conference at p.
UK time, but official word didn't filter through until later in the afternoon. City remain unhappy with Mendes' role in the saga with some believing he used interest from the Etihad to force United into acting. Sources close to Ronaldo admit he considered a move to City, but once United revealed their hand, his mind was made up and that he had even taken a small pay cut to make it happen.
Sources have also told ESPN that the pitch made to Ronaldo, done in part by former teammate and now technical director Darren Fletcher, was about "completing unfinished business at Old Trafford and writing a new chapter rather than trying to relive the past. UK on Friday, the official announcement came through to cap off a remarkable 24 hours.
Bruno later joked he was an "agent" once the news was public. Even when, to outsiders at least, City seemed destined to sign Ronaldo, those within Old Trafford knew that the player's deep-rooted affection for United would give them a chance of persuading him to choose red rather than blue. Ronaldo has maintained contact with many from his time at United, principally Ferdinand and Evra, but he also has retained relationships with members of staff behind the scenes.
Since assuming his role as executive vice-chairman in , following the retirement of chief executive David Gill, Woodward has made it his business to get close to the game's so-called "super-agents.
0コメント