Cristiano Ronaldo is enjoying his second spell at Manchester United, currently as the club’s top scorer in all competitions. Notably, he ended his first spell at Old Trafford as the best player in the world, but his move to Real Madrid wasn’t short of any drama.
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The Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon had claimed that Ronaldo would be a Real Madrid player in 2007. Sir Alex Ferguson, United’s manager at the time, was incensed by the way Calderon had approached this issue, given Ronaldo did want to leave as well.
Luis Nani revealed how Cristiano Ronaldo used to talk to him and Anderson
Eventually, Ferguson calmed himself down and promised that he’ll let Ronaldo go if the right offer came through. Certainly, the Scot stuck to his promise and Ronaldo finally left in 2009. However, his last season wasn’t short of any turmoil.
According to Luis Nani, Ronaldo’s then-teammate, the superstar would often talk to him and Anderson and express his intentions of leaving United.
“We would stay at the end of training to do competitions and they [Anderson and Ronaldo] were my teammates, everyone has best friends or some they feel more comfortable with and they were my support,” Nani said.
Nani was surprised by the quickness of Ronaldo’s departure
Nani also added that Ronaldo was talking about leaving quite a few times. However, when the move eventually happened in 2009, he was left surprised by the quickness of it. United had just won the treble in 2008, and Ronaldo’s departure was a huge blow to them.
“Some days he [Ronaldo] was telling us openly, ‘I’m here six or seven years now, I think it’s enough for me.’ He said that a couple of times. But it was always, ‘I will see, I will see, I will see’ but we never thought it [Real Madrid move] would happen so fast. After we won the league in the second year he left, he produced a great season so we were still surprised,” Nani said.
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Things are different now as United aren’t the top competitors they once were before, but that might soon change with the expertise of Ralf Rangnick, combined with Ronaldo’s goal-scoring exploits.
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However, if they fail to turn things around, do you think Ronaldo would leave United yet again?