Aug 31, 2021
Twelve years after leaving Old Trafford for the first time, Cristiano Ronaldo is back at Manchester United having agreed a sensational return.
It is a move that has been talked about a lot since the Portuguese went to Real Madrid in 2009, but in reality it had never been close to materializing. There was speculation in 2013 and again in 2018, but finally, in 2021, United and Cristiano are preparing for a spectacular reunion.
Within 48 hours, and with less than a week to go in the summer transfer window, Cristiano told Juventus of his desire to leave the club, and seemed very close to joining Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Then a flurry of text messages and phone calls led Cristiano to opt for his former club over his closest rival.
After six years at United, between 2003 and 2009 (292 appearances, 118 goals, three Premier League titles and a Champions League win in 2008), Cristiano made no secret of his desire to move to Real Madrid for £80 million, a world record at the time. But he remained a United fan favorite and was celebrated as a hero on visits to Manchester with Real Madrid and Juventus. He even refused to celebrate when his goal for Real Madrid at Old Trafford helped Real eliminate United from the 2013 Champions League, Sir Alex Ferguson's last European game before his retirement.
Cristiano continues to call Ferguson his "soccer father" and the two have been in regular contact over the years. Ferguson greeted him when Portugal won the European Championship in 2016. Ferguson did his part to get the five-time Ballon d'Or winner to sign with United when he decided to leave Juventus this summer, just when it seemed Ronaldo might do the unthinkable and join Manchester City. Plus, Executive Vice President Ed Woodward had long had ambitions to bring him back.
This is how it happened:
With the collaboration of Gabriele Marcotti, Mark Ogden, Rodrigo Fáez and Andrew Cesare Richardson
How Manchester United did it
United make no secret of the fact that they did not enter the summer transfer window with plans to sign Cristiano. ESPN reported in June, before the start of the European Championship, that Cristiano's representatives (led by his agent Jorge Mendes) were gauging the interest of some of the best clubs in Europe, including United, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Paris Saint -Germain, just in case --and at that time, it was a big "if"-- Cristiano was leaving Juventus.
United's response at the time was a polite 'no', partly because they believed he would decide to complete the final year of his contract in Turin, and partly because of the magnitude of the numbers, especially for a player who, despite being in his best physical condition, he will turn 37 in February, but also because his priorities in the market were different.
The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United unleashed the most pungent phrases of our experts.
Mendes received a similar response from Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Manchester City. Then came Harry Kane's announcement on Wednesday that he would not be moving to City this summer, instead staying at Tottenham for at least another year. With no prospect of signing his main target, City began looking for other options and before long, Mendes was back on the phone.
The response this time around was more positive than in June, and with Cristiano finally making the decision to leave Juventus (in fact, he didn't show up for training last week), City began to explore how to finalize the deal. There was reluctance to meet the financial demands of both Juventus and Cristiano: he earned €31m net plus bonuses per year at Juventus, who also asked for around €28m for the transfer to avoid a capital loss in the deal by which Cristiano had been signed from Real Madrid in 2018. And Pep Guardiola also had doubts about how he would fit on and off the pitch.
Still, on Thursday, City had agreed to continue talking to Mendes, but by then, things were already changing. As the chances of Ronaldo joining City grew ever more real and United fans began to express their outrage, his former United teammates Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra; his teammate from Portugal, Bruno Fernandes; and Ferguson became involved. For his part, Ferdinand and Ferguson simply told him "you can't sign with City." Phone calls and WhatsApp messages were sent to Cristiano (Evra later posted a portion of his conversation on Twitter) as Woodward began talking to Mendes.
On Thursday night, Mendes received a proposal from United. Talks with Juventus began on Friday morning, with United assuring the Italian club that they were willing to pay, something City had so far resisted. There was talk of players moving in the reverse direction, but a €15m move was eventually agreed, with a further €8m in add-ons.
When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's weekly news conference began at 1.15pm UK time on Friday, the United manager was already certain Cristiano would be back. Every question about Cristiano was rebuffed by Solskjaer until, right at the end, he pointedly said: "He knows how we feel about him, and if he's going to change, he knows we're here."
They uncovered the pot. City sources say they had withdrawn well before Guardiola began his own press conference at 13:30 UK time, but the official word did not leak until late in the afternoon. City remain unhappy with Mendes' role in the saga, and some believe he used the Etihad's interest to force United to act.
Sources close to Cristiano acknowledge that he considered moving to City, but once United revealed his hand, he made up his mind, and even took a small salary cut so that it could come to fruition.
Sources also told ESPN that the introduction to Cristiano, made in part by former teammate and now manager Darren Fletcher, focused on "completing unfinished business at Old Trafford and writing a new chapter rather than trying to relive the past." ". And on Friday at 16:50 UK time came the official announcement to cap off an extraordinary 24 hours. (Bruno later joked that he was an "agent" once the news had been made public.)
"Manchester United is delighted to confirm that the club has reached an agreement with Juventus for the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo, subject to agreement on personal, medical and visa conditions," he said. "Everyone at the club looks forward to welcoming Cristiano back to Manchester." United's Instagram ad is the most liked post ever among team posts in any sport.
Even when, to outsiders at least, City seemed destined to sign Cristiano, the people at Old Trafford knew that the player's deep-seated affection for United would give them the chance to persuade him to choose red over blue. Cristiano has maintained many contacts from his time at United, especially Ferdinand and Evra, but he has also maintained relationships with members of the coaching staff. And a staff member told ESPN of a moment in Turin, following United's 2-1 win over Juventus in the Champions League in November 2018, when his abiding respect for United became apparent.
"We had just beaten Juve with two late goals and Jose Mourinho, the manager at the time, came out onto the pitch and started prodding the Juventus fans by putting his ear to the noise," the United source said. "A lot of the players were angry with [Mourinho] because he seemed to be taking over his players' win, and Cristiano was furious with him as well.
"He walked by and said: '[Mourinho] doesn't have the class to manage Manchester United.'"
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— Someonee Sat Apr 04 13:44:35 +0000 2015
"We always knew Cristiano loved his time at Old Trafford, but I think what people outside the club don't appreciate is how much he still cares, and always cared, about what happens here."
The Woodward Factor
Since he took over as executive vice president in 2013 following the retirement of chief executive David Gill, Woodward has made it his mission to reach out to soccer's so-called "super agents."
Gill, perhaps influenced by Ferguson's deep disdain for player representatives, had always kept them at arm's length, treating many with suspicion and trusting only those he had come to know and respect over a decade on the job. Woodward had no such inhibitions, and he worked hard to cultivate relationships with the likes of Mino Raiola (advisor to Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Erling Haaland, among others) and Mendes, Cristiano's manager for many years.
On one occasion, while enjoying drinks with reporters before United's Champions League game against Olympiakos in Athens in February 2014, Woodward's phone rang, and the screen clearly showed the caller's name. Instead of quickly diverting the call or walking away to speak privately, Woodward made sure everyone knew who was calling: "Ha! It's Jorge Mendes," he said.
And while he was often mocked for his efforts to get close to the most powerful agents, Woodward continued to see him as a key element of his job, and the effort has paid off with the signing of Cristiano -- and could well be key to the incorporation of Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund next summer.
Sources told ESPN that Woodward and Mendes were in contact over Cristiano throughout the summer, and that the United manager was briefed by Mendes on Cristiano's intentions every step of the way. Through their initial talks in June, United learned how much a transaction would cost, but those deals fell through because Ronaldo asked Mendes to inform the clubs that he would stay at Juventus.
When Cristiano changed his mind this month, Mendes tipped off Woodward, but United had already followed through on their plans with the signing of Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund, and a deal for defender Raphael Varane from Real Madrid.
Signing Cristiano would also require finding funds outside of their transfer budget and Woodward would need to persuade co-chairman Joel Glazer on the financial and sporting side of closing a deal that sources have said would cost the minus £500,000 a week in wages for the next two years. It was at the moment that City emerged as a possible destination for Cristiano that Woodward was able to find the key to unlock Glazer's vault.
Sources told ESPN that Guardiola and some members of the City hierarchy were not happy with the way Mendes conducted the negotiations, but if the ultimate goal of bringing City into the move was to get United back in the seat? at the negotiating table, it worked. Once it became clear Crisitano was going to City rather than United unless the latter acted quickly, the Glazers gave Woodward the green light to go ahead with the deal.
"It would have been unacceptable for any of us for Crisitano to wear a blue kit," a United source told ESPN. "When he changed his mind [about leaving Juventus] and the deal resurfaced, the only way to get it done was if we added interest from City."
When he replaced Gill in June 2013, Woodward had a list of targets. One was to re-sign Pogba from Juventus; the other was to get Cristiano back to Old Trafford. Pogba returned in 2016 and Cristiano, 12 years after leaving with Real Madrid, will also wear the red shirt again.
"It's a shame it's taken so long to come back," a United source told ESPN.
Why were you allowed to leave Juventus?
Juventus told Mendes in the spring, even before going their separate ways with Andrea Pirlo, that they were facing heavy losses and while their wish was for Crisitiano to stay in his final season with the club, they were not going to stand in the middle of his move. road if you wanted to leave. The club was clear about its desire to recover around €28m to avoid a capital loss on its move from Real Madrid in 2018, in order to start its reconstruction, but what they asked for was that everything be done quickly.
There was no interest in Cristiano around Europe, despite Mendes' best efforts. Real Madrid was not an option, United snubbed him, Paris Saint-Germain were focused on Kylian Mbappé's contract extension, City were after Kane, Chelsea were targeting Erling Haaland and then Romelu Lukaku. In that scenario, Juve believed that Crisitano's preferred destinations were Real Madrid, PSG and Chelsea, in that order, taking into account his desire to win another Champions League.
When Crisitano was first linked to Real Madrid in mid-August, Juve spoke to him and Mendes, but the striker gave no indication of wanting to leave. Mendes said that there was interest from other clubs, but that he was going to depend on other moves – especially what happened with Mbappé. Juve also checked with Massimiliano Allegri. He said that he was going to agree with what the club decided, but if Cristiano left, he was going to need another striker. Other than that, he didn't worry too much.
With Cristiano in the team, Allegri faced a problem that his predecessors, Maurizio Sarri and Andrea Pirlo, struggled to solve: how to fit him into the team. They both realized that Cristiano couldn't play alone up front (he has the worst pressure stats among Serie A forwards), or on the wing (because he doesn't like to fall behind) and their solution was to play with a 4-2 -2 and add it to another striker, a system that did not sit well with the rest of the players.
On Thursday morning, City looked to be on pole position. Mendes told Juventus that City had been in contact and that things looked promising. Juventus had no contact with City at that point and while they reported that they were awaiting a formal offer, all they received from City was a verbal offer. And then United advanced.
On Friday morning, Cristiano arrived at Continassa, Juve's practice facility, and spent around 40 minutes saying goodbye. The club gave him permission to leave and released him from the weekend's games, although they were still not 100 per cent sure that he would end up leaving. They had received information that Guardiola was not entirely convinced about adding him and while they had been told the night before that United had appeared on the scene, they did not take it very seriously.
At that stage, if City's deal fell through, they thought it was much more likely that he would end up at PSG, if they sold Mbappé, or that he would return to Torino. In the end, the lure of a return to United proved too strong.
And how will he fit in with the rest at Old Trafford?
While it seemed unimaginable that Cristiano would end up with City, it could well be said that they needed him more at the Etihad than at Old Trafford. Guardiola wants a striker following Sergio Aguero's departure to Barcelona, while United's needs towards the end of the transfer window seemed to be a holding midfielder and a reinforcement at right-back.
In any case, in Cristiano, United have added a goalscorer who, already past his thirties, continues to find the back of the net. In 134 appearances in two years with Juventus, he scored 101 goals and recorded 22 assists. He finished as the leading scorer in Serie A in both seasons.
Cristiano first came to United as a winger more than anything, but he has become a striker over the course of his career and that is how he will play under Solskjaer. He "fits the fast, attacking style of play that Ole plays," a source told ESPN, but the pace and energy are likely to come from those who will be around Cristiano, such as Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, Jadon Sancho and Anthony Martial. Dan James, who started in a 1-0 win over Wolves on Sunday, could go on loan, with Leeds United reportedly interested.
With Juventus, Cristiano completed a two-man attack, and it is possible that he will play alongside Cavani, Greenwood, Rashford or Martial at United, depending on the opposition. Even if another attacker is added to the squad, Solskjaer insists there will be enough games for everyone to play and, as things stand, there are no plans to ditch Edinson Cavani, who will compete for the centre-forward spot.
United also believe Cristiano will adapt well both on and off the pitch. Last season, Solskjaer felt that a lack of Champions League experience meant his side ended up being a bit inexperienced in key moments against Paris Saint-Germain at home and away against RB Leipzig, when they were eliminated. Cristiano and Raphael Varane – who won the competition four times during their time together at Real Madrid – should rectify that.
It has been part of Solskjaer's plan to supplement a core of young players with the experience of Cristiano, Varane, Cavani and goalkeeper Tom Heaton, and it is hoped that the way Cristiano handles himself on the pitch, trains and looks after his body, exert influence over players like Greenwood and Sancho.
United were one of the great forces in Europe when Ronaldo was at Old Trafford. He now he has come back to see if he can make that happen again.