Thought there was a good chance of signing Cristiano Ronaldo, admits Fernandinho
Manchester City had a good chance of signing Cristiano Ronaldo before his eventual move to cross-city rivals Manchester United in the transfer window, according to Fernandinho. The mercurial Portuguese completed a move to United in the last week of the transfer window for a fee of £20 million.
Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has revealed that the English club could have signed Cristiano Ronaldo before he eventually made a return to Manchester United where he spent six years with the club between 2003 and 2009. Reports emerged during the latter half of the transfer window that the Portuguese international was looking to leave Juventus ahead of a move to England. The Citizens were the favourites to secure the 36-year-old's signature after they failed in their pursuit to convince Tottenham to let go of their star striker Harry Kane. Speculation started to gain momentum as City opened talks to sign Ronaldo before United scuppered the deal and swooped in to seal a homecoming for the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
The Portuguese attacker left Juventus for Manchester United for a reported fee of £20 million after spending three years at the Italian club where he made 134 appearances while scoring 101 goals and providing 22 assists. The 36-year-old helped the club win two Serie A titles and one Coppa Italia during his stint with the club.
Ronaldo has gone on to score three goals in two appearances since the start of his second spell at Old Trafford under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Fernandinho has revealed that he thought the Portuguese forward would make his England comeback for the blue side of Manchester when Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes was present at Etihad Stadium to hold initial talks earlier in the transfer window.
“I think there was a good, considerable chance. I think his agent was here at the club renewing the contracts of Ederson, Ruben Dias, seeing the situation of Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo. Obviously, if you're there at the table, you can talk about everything and every possible player," Fernandinho told ESPN.
"I think that a lot of expectations were also raised with the possibility of him coming here. No doubt this ends up infecting not only the fans but also the people inside the club. But in the end, things didn't work out, he didn't close the deal, and ended up going to the red side of town. Life goes on," he added.
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