To get a good understanding of the situation, it’s important to know that Ronaldo has two main agents: Jorge Mendes and Simon de Quieroz. The former runs Ronaldo’s affairs for him, while the latter is a consultant for Mendes; they represent a large number of top players in the world, and are instrumental in the transfer market. The Ronaldo-Juventus situation has been a tense one: after four years at the Juventus, Ronaldo returned to United and signed a new £300,000-a-week, four-year deal in the summer of 2018.
It’s been five years since Cristiano Ronaldo left Old Trafford for the Bernabeu in a world record £80m move after nine seasons with the Red Devils. After everything he’d achieved, it was hard to believe that Ronaldo would leave but that’s exactly what happened. The Madrid outfit also offered him bonuses of £30m each year, which he couldn’t turn down.
To get a good understanding of the situation, it’s important to know that Ronaldo has two main agents: Jorge Mendes and Simon de Quieroz. The former runs Ronaldo’s affairs for him, while the latter is a consultant for Mendes; they represent a large number of top players in the world, and are instrumental in the transfer market. The Ronaldo-Juventus situation has been a tense one: after four years at the Juventus, Ronaldo returned to United and signed a new £300,000-a-week, four-year deal in the summer of 2018.
Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed to a stunning return to Manchester United, twelve years after leaving the club for the first time.
It’s a move that has been discussed many times since his departure from Real Madrid in 2009, but has never come close to becoming a reality. There was talk in 2013 and again in 2018, but United and Ronaldo are finally planning a stunning reunion in 2021.
Ronaldo informed Juventus of his intention to leave the club in less than 48 hours, with less than a week left in the summer transfer season, and looked poised to join Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Then, after a flurry of text messages and phone conversations, Ronaldo decided to join his old team over their main competitors.
– Marcotti: Ronaldo’s return to United stunned the soccer world – Man United announce stunning Ronaldo comeback – Ronaldo has returned to Manchester! Icons who returned to the teams that made them famous – how social media responded
Ronaldo made no secret of his intention to join Real Madrid for a then-world record price of £80 million after six years at United, where he made 292 games, 118 goals, three Premier League championships, and a Champions League victory in 2008. However, he has remained a fan favorite at United and has been hailed as a returning hero when Real Madrid and Juventus paid trips to Manchester. Even after his goal for Real Madrid at Old Trafford helped Real Madrid knock United out of the Champions League in 2013, Sir Alex Ferguson’s last European match before retiring, he declined to celebrate.
Ronaldo still refers to Ferguson as his “football father,” and the two have maintained touch throughout the years, with Ferguson congratulating him on Portugal’s 2016 European Championship victory. After choosing to leave Juventus this summer, Ferguson played a key role in ensuring Ronaldo signed for United, just when it seemed like the five-time Ballon d’Or winner would do the unimaginable and join rivals Manchester City. Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had also wanted to bring him back for a long time.
This is how it went down.
Gabriele Marcotti, Mark Ogden, Rodrigo Faez, and Andrew Cesare Richardson contributed additional reporting.
Manchester United’s strategy
United have made no secret of the fact that they had no intentions to sign Ronaldo when the summer transfer market opened. Before the commencement of the European Championships in June, ESPN reported that Ronaldo’s agents (headed by his agent, Jorge Mendes) were gauging interest from some of Europe’s best teams, including Manchester United, Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Paris Saint-Germain, if he left Juventus.
United’s response at the time was a polite no, partly because they expected him to stay in Turin for the final year of his contract, partly because of the financial implications (especially for a player who, at the peak of his fitness, turns 37 in February), and partly because their transfer priorities were elsewhere.
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When speaking to youngsters in April 2019, Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hinted that Cristiano Ronaldo will return.
Mendes received similar responses from PSG, Real Madrid, and Manchester City. Then there was Harry Kane’s declaration on Wednesday that he would not be joining Manchester City this summer and would instead stay at Tottenham for at least another year. With little chance of signing their top target, City looked into other possibilities, and Mendes was back on the phone in no time.
The reaction was more favorable this time than it had been in June, and with Ronaldo ultimately deciding to leave Juventus, even skipping a training session last week, City started looking into how to make a deal happen. There was a reluctance to meet both Juventus and Ronaldo’s financial demands — he earned €31 million net and bonuses per year at Juventus, who also demanded around €28 million in a transfer fee to avoid a capital loss on the deal that brought Ronaldo from Real Madrid in 2018 — and Pep Guardiola had concerns about how he would fit in on and off the pitch.
Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop, and others to discuss the most recent news and debate the most important stories. ESPN+ has a live stream available (U.S. only).
Even so, City decided to keep talking to Mendes on Thursday, but things had already changed by then. Ronaldo’s former United colleagues Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra, Portugal teammate Bruno Fernandes, and Ferguson all got involved as the possibility of Ronaldo joining City grew more apparent and United supporters started to voice their anger. Ferdinand and Ferguson, for their part, simply informed him, “You cannot sign for City.” While Woodward was speaking with Mendes, phone calls and WhatsApp messages were made to Ronaldo — Evra subsequently shared a part of their discussion on Twitter.
Mendes got a bid from United on Thursday night. Conversations with Juventus started on Friday morning, and United informed the Italian club that they were willing to pay a price, something City had previously refused to do. There were discussions about players potentially going in the other way, but a transfer price of €15 million was ultimately agreed upon, with an additional €8 million in add-ons.
Ronaldo’s return to Real Madrid and Juventus after a 12-year absence stunned the sports world. PA Images/Nick Potts via Getty Images
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was optimistic Ronaldo will return when his weekly press conference started at 1:15 p.m. UK time on Friday. Solskjaer dodged every question about Ronaldo until, right at the end, he stated flatly, “he knows how we feel about him and if he is going to move, he knows we are here.”
The cat had escaped from the bag. City insiders said they left long before Guardiola’s scheduled press conference at 1:30 p.m. UK time, although official confirmation didn’t come until later in the afternoon. City are still upset with Mendes’ involvement in the affair, with some speculating that he exploited the Etihad’s interest to push United to act.
According to sources close to Ronaldo, he contemplated a transfer to City before United exposed their hand, and he even took a modest salary cut to make it happen.
According to ESPN, Ronaldo’s presentation, which included former colleague and now technical director Darren Fletcher, was about “finishing unfinished business at Old Trafford and creating a new chapter rather than reliving the past.” The formal announcement occurred at 4:50 p.m. UK time on Friday, capping up a spectacular 24 hours. (After the news became public, Bruno joked that he was a “agent.”)
Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop, and others to discuss the most recent news and debate the most important stories. ESPN+ has a live stream available (U.S. only).
“Manchester United is pleased to announce that the club has achieved an agreement with Juventus for Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer, subject to personal conditions, visa and medical approval,” the statement said. “Everyone at the club is looking forward to Cristiano returning to Manchester.” United’s Instagram announcement is the most liked post by a sporting team in any sport.
Even though it seemed to outsiders that City would sign Ronaldo, many within Old Trafford understood that the player’s strong love for United would give them a chance to persuade him to pick red over blue. Ronaldo has kept in touch with a number of people from his time at United, most notably Ferdinand and Evra, but he has also kept in touch with members of the backroom staff. And one member of the staff told ESPN about a time in Turin in November 2018, after United’s 2-1 Champions League victory against Juventus, when his love for the club became apparent.
“We’d just defeated Juventus with two late goals, and Jose Mourinho, the manager at the time, walked onto the field and began to goad the Juventus supporters by cupping his ear to the noise,” a United insider claimed. “A lot of the players were angry with [Mourinho] because he appeared to make the victory about him rather than the team, and Cristiano was also furious with him.”
‘[Mourinho] doesn’t have the class to manage Manchester United,’ he remarked as he went by.
“We’ve always known Ronaldo enjoyed his time at Old Trafford, but I believe what people outside the club don’t realize is how much he still cares, and always has, about what goes on here.”
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Cristiano Ronaldo’s legacy at Juventus, as he departs Italy without a Champions League championship, is discussed by Craig Burley.
Woodward’s influence
Woodward has made it his business to become close to the game’s so-called “super-agents” since taking over as executive vice-chairman in 2013, after the departure of chief executive David Gill.
Gill, possibly inspired by Ferguson’s profound contempt for player agents, maintained them at arm’s length at all times, regarding many with suspicion and only trusting those he had come to know and respect over the course of a decade on the job. Woodward, on the other hand, had no such reservations, and he worked hard to build connections with people like Mino Raiola, who advises players like Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Erling Haaland, among others, and Mendes, Ronaldo’s long-time agent.
In February 2014, while having cocktails with journalists before United’s Champions League match against Olympiakos in Athens, Woodward’s phone called, with the caller’s identity plainly shown on the screen. Rather of immediately diverting the phone or stepping away to answer it discreetly, Woodward made sure everyone knew who was calling by saying, “Ha! It’s Jorge Mendes.”
Woodward has his critics, but his attempts to build relationships with soccer’s power brokers placed him in a position to execute the year’s most spectacular move, perhaps even more dramatic than Messi’s. Getty Images/OLI SCARFF/AFP
While his desire to get close to prominent agents was ridiculed at times, Woodward continued to view it as an important part of his job, and the hard work paid off with the acquisition of Ronaldo — and it may still be vital in luring Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund next summer.
Woodward and Mendes have been in touch regarding Ronaldo throughout the summer, according to ESPN sources, and Mendes has kept the United director updated on Ronaldo’s plans at all times. Initial negotiations in June resulted in United being informed of the “eye-watering” costs of a transfer, but those talks fell through when Ronaldo instructed Mendes to notify teams that he would be remaining at Juventus.
Mendes informed Woodward when Ronaldo changed his mind earlier this month, but United had already completed their transaction by signing Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund and completing a deal for Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane.
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Julien Laurens discusses how Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will use Cristiano Ronaldo.
Signing Ronaldo would also need finding money outside of the transfer budget, and Woodward would have to convince co-chairman Joel Glazer of the financial and sporting logic of the transaction, which, according to insiders, would cost at least £500,000 per week in salaries over the next two years. Woodward was only able to locate the keys to the Glazer vault when City became a possible destination for Ronaldo.
According to ESPN, Guardiola and other members of the City hierarchy were unhappy with Mendes’ negotiating tactics, but if the goal of bringing City in was to get United back to the table, it succeeded. The Glazers gave Woodward the go-ahead to make a transaction when it became apparent that Ronaldo would be going to City rather than United unless they moved fast.
“If [Ronaldo] had worn sky blue, none of us would have been happy,” a United insider told ESPN. “When he changed his mind [about leaving Juventus] and the deal came up again, City’s interest was the means to push it over the line.”
Woodward had a wish list when he took over for Gill in June 2013. The first was to get Pogba back to United from Juventus, and the second was to bring Ronaldo back to Old Trafford. Pogba returned in 2016, while Ronaldo is back in a red jersey 12 years after departing for Real Madrid.
A United insider told ESPN, “It’s a pity it took so long.”
Ronaldo and his agent, Mendes, remained in regular communication with Ferguson, who nurtured Ronaldo at Man United until his departure in 2009. Their friendship is said to have influenced Ronaldo’s decision to return to United rather than go to City. FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images Alexander Hassenstein
Why was he given permission to quit Juventus?
Even before they parted ways with Andrea Pirlo in the spring, Juventus informed Mendes that they were facing significant losses and that, although they would be happy if Ronaldo remained for his last season, they would not stand in his way if he stated he wanted to go. The club was clear that they needed to recover about €28 million to prevent a capital loss on his transfer from Real Madrid in 2018, so they could start rebuilding, but all they wanted was that business be completed swiftly.
Despite Mendes’ best efforts, there was little interest in Ronaldo in Europe. Real Madrid was out, United turned him down, PSG was intent on extending Kylian Mbappe’s contract, City was after Kane, Chelsea was after Erling Haaland, and finally Romelu Lukaku. Because of his ambition to win another Champions League, Juve thought Ronaldo’s favorite destinations were Real Madrid, PSG, and Chelsea, in that order.
When Ronaldo and Mendes were connected with a move to Real Madrid in mid-August, Juve reached out to them, despite the fact that Ronaldo had given no indication that he intended to go. Other teams are interested, according to Mendes, but it will depend on what happens elsewhere, especially with Mbappe. Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus’ coach, was also consulted. He said that he would do anything the club desired, but that if Ronaldo departed, he would need a striker. He was unconcerned about anything else.
At Juventus, the major criticism of Ronaldo was that three successive managers had failed to integrate him into the squad and surround him in the most effective manner possible. His departure should open the door for Juventus’ long-overdue rebuilding. Getty Images/Alessandro Sabattini
Allegri was confronted with a dilemma that both his predecessors, Maurizio Sarri and Andrea Pirlo, had grappled with: how to integrate Ronaldo into the team. Both realized Ronaldo couldn’t play up front on his alone (he has the worst pressing numbers of any striker in Serie A) or on the flank (he doesn’t like to track back), so they switched to a 4-2-2 formation and paired him with another forward, a system that didn’t work for the rest of the team.
City looked to be in the lead by Thursday morning. Mendes informed Juventus that City had made contact and that everything seemed to be on the up and up. At the time, Juventus had had no communication with City, and although they had informed them that they were anticipating a formal proposal, all they received was a verbal offer. Then United arrived.
Ronaldo came to Juve’s Continassa training facility on Friday morning and spent approximately 40 minutes saying his goodbyes. The club granted him permission to depart and excused him from the weekend’s games, but they weren’t convinced he’d go. They’d been informed that Guardiola wasn’t sold on him, and although they’d been told the night before that United had entered the picture, they didn’t take it seriously.
If the City deal went through, they felt it was much more probable he’d move to PSG or return to Turin if Mbappe was sold. The allure of returning to United was just too great.
What role does Ronaldo play at Old Trafford now?
While it may have appeared impossible that Ronaldo would end up at City, there is an argument to be made that he is more required at the Etihad than at Old Trafford. After Sergio Aguero’s move to Barcelona, Guardiola wanted a striker, while United’s requirement in the closing days of the transfer market looked to be a holding midfielder and right-back backup.
Nonetheless, United have acquired a proven goal scorer in Ronaldo, who is still finding the back of the net long into his 30s. He scored 101 goals and added 22 assists in 134 games for Juventus over two years. In both seasons, he was the leading scorer in Serie A.
Ronaldo was primarily a winger when he initially came at United, but throughout the course of his career, he has evolved into a striker, and that is where he will play under Solskjaer. One insider told ESPN that he “fits with Ole’s quick, aggressive style of play,” but the speed and energy will most likely come from others surrounding Ronaldo, such as Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, Jadon Sancho, and Anthony Martial. Dan James, who began the 1-0 victory against Wolves on Sunday, may potentially join Leeds United on loan.
Ronaldo was often deployed in a two-man attack at Juventus, and depending on the opponent, he might be paired with Cavani, Greenwood, Rashford, or Martial at United. Despite the addition of another attacker, Solskjaer believes that there will be enough games for everyone, and there are no intentions to sell Edinson Cavani, who will fight for a starting place at center forward.
Ronaldo is also seen to fit in well off the field by United. Solskjaer thought his squad was a bit naïve in crucial situations against Paris Saint-Germain at home and away at RB Leipzig when they were knocked out last season due to a lack of Champions League experience. Ronaldo and Raphael Varane, who won the tournament four times together at Real Madrid, should be able to put things right.
It was part of Solskjaer’s strategy to complement a core group of young players with the experience of Ronaldo, Varane, Cavani, and goalkeeper Tom Heaton, and there is hope that the way Ronaldo conducts himself off the field, in terms of training and body care, will rub off on Greenwood and Sancho.
When Ronaldo was last at Old Trafford, United was the best team in Europe. He’s returning to try if he can repeat the feat.
It’s been five years since Cristiano Ronaldo left Old Trafford for the Bernabeu in a world record £80m move after nine seasons with the Red Devils. After everything he’d achieved, it was hard to believe that Ronaldo would leave but that’s exactly what happened. The Madrid outfit also offered him bonuses of £30m each year, which he couldn’t turn down.. Read more about man city starting 11 and let us know what you think.
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