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Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo had a good chance of joining the reigning Premier League winners in the summer before city rivals Manchester United swooped in on him to secure his return to Old Trafford. Five-time Ballon d’Or Award recipient Ronaldo returned to the Theatre of Dreams before the end of this summer’s transfer window after a decade and two years away from the club.
He had played for the duo of Real Madrid and Juventus before returning to Old Trafford. Legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge of the first team when Ronaldo left the club to sign for Real Madrid in an £80m deal in 2009.
Fernandinho spoke with ESPN on Ronaldo and how Manchester City were keen on signing him in the summer. According to him, Manchester City were in talks with his agent, Jorge Mendes and that the Citizens had a very good chance of signing him from Italian Serie A giants Juventus. In the end, Manchester City were not ready to pay the transfer fee demanded by the Italians and that led to Manchester United winning the race to sign him ahead of previous favourites Manchester City. Also, Manchester City wanted Ronaldo to lower his £500,000 weekly wage demands. He had been earning around the same amount at Juventus.
Manchester United agreed an initial fee of £12.9m plus £6.9m in add-ons to sign Ronaldo for the second time from Italian team Juventus. He signed a two-year deal on his return to Manchester United with the option of another year.
Ronaldo has started his second spell as a Manchester United player with three goals in two matches. He scored twice in the Premier League win over Newcastle United (4-1 victory) at the weekend before netting the only goal in the disappointing 2-1 loss at Young Boys FC of Switzerland.