Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted that he was close to signing for Manchester City last summer before a meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson changed the now-Manchester United striker’s mind.
Speaking to Piers Morgan on TalkTV, the Portuguese international recounted how he almost joined City from Juventus in the 2021 summer transfer window, with Ronaldo seemingly on the verge of signing for the Manchester giants despite his ties to their Red Devil rivals.
However, as we know, the attacker ultimately rejected the chance to join City and instead returned to United, where this season things have gone poorly for Ronaldo under new manager Erik Ten Hag, with the attacker spending the majority of the campaign on the bench.
And it appears that the forward’s career with United is all but over following more comments from Ronaldo’s explosive interview with Morgan, with the forward targeting the Dutch manager, certain players and questioning the overall running of the club by the Glazer family.
Yet it could have been a different story had Ronaldo joined City, with the striker saying on the matter: “It was close. They spoke a lot and [Pep] Guardiola said they tried hard to have me. But my heart, my feeling and what I had done before, and Sir Alex Ferguson made the difference.”
Ronaldo made a mistake not signing for Manchester City
The mere thought of Ronaldo in Sky Blue is one to make any Manchester United fan shudder. Yet in realty, Ronaldo made a bad decision in returning to Old Trafford rather than moving to City, where Pep Guardiola might have handled the Portuguese legend in a different manner that wouldn’t have ended in the unravelling of his legacy.
Indeed, whilst Ronaldo might have enjoyed the same amount of playing time at City as he currently is at United, the whole culture around the club and the overall facilities are leagues above what the Red Devils have, and this could have stayed the veteran attacker into enjoying his football in the Premier League despite throwing his toys out of the pram.
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