Manchester: Cristiano Ronaldo returns to England after 12 years with his former club Manchester United from Juventus on Friday . The details of the deal is yet to be announced while the club confirmed the move on their official social media.
Juventus had signed Ronaldo in 2018, from Real Madrid for 100m euros in a hope to get their hands on their much anticipated UEFA Champions League. Although Ronaldo had some fabulous moments in Turin , scoring 81 goals for the Serie A giants in 98 matches the talisman was not pleased. From former Juventus manager Andrea Pirlo benching him in certain necessary matches to ex Juventus chairmain terming Ronaldo as a mistake, Ronaldo had enough reasons to look for another destination even with a year left on his contract. He was so disheartened with the criticism garnered by the Juventus officials that Ronaldo left the practice on Thursday in just 40 minutes after bidding goodbye to his teammates.
Although in such a short span of time, Manchester City came out as the potential bidders, but Manchester United sealed the deal at the final moment. The Manchester based club had already been keen to bring Ronaldo back to Old Trafford and was not ready to let go of an opportunity like this.
Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes offered the former Red Devils forward to Man City after they missed out top target Harry Kane, but City dropped out of the race on Friday. However Manchester United sealed a deal having agreed to pay 12.8 million for the 36-year old five times Ballon d’Or winner, with the deal subject to personal terms, visa and a medical.
In a statement on their club website, United said:
“Cristiano, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, has so far won over 30 major trophies during his career, including five UEFA Champions League titles, four FIFA Club World Cups, seven league titles in England, Spain and Italy, and the European Championship for his native Portugal.
“In his first spell for Manchester United, he scored 118 goals in 292 games. Everyone at the club looks forward to welcoming Cristiano back to Manchester.”
