Why the Glazer family decided to hijack Manchester City’s Ronaldo deal

Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus FC reacts as he warms up during the Serie A football match between Udinese Calcio and Juventus FC at stadio Friuli in Udine Italy, August 22th, 2021. Photo Federico Tardito / Insidefoto federicoxtardito

At the start of this summer transfer window, Jadon Sancho was clearly the number one target at Old Trafford. After missing out on a deal last year, the 21-year-old was once again Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first pick after the disappointing Europa League final loss to Villarreal.

The embarrassing two-month pursuit of Sancho last summer aside, this year the deal was completed with next to little fuss, and an agreement for his transfer was announced at the start of July.

After that, Raphael Varane joined him and was unveiled by the club ahead of the Premier League curtain-raiser against Leeds on August 14. The general consensus among supporters was that United were done in terms of incomings but when Manchester City came dangerously close to signing Cristiano Ronaldo, United’s owners, the Glazer family, decided to press ahead with plans to hijack the deal.

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That’s according to the Manchester Evening News, who detail the timeline of Ronaldo’s sensational comeback to Old Trafford. It’s claimed that a motive behind Ronaldo returning to Manchester United was partly to get fans back on their side, having seen thousands join protests amid the launch of the disgraced Super League last season.

Furthermore, the Glazer family also feared that another backlash from supporters was due if they allowed Ronaldo to join their fierce rivals without any attempt to swoop in.

An initial announcement of Ronaldo re-signing for the club was made last week and now, the 36-year-old has passed a medical – an official announcement is expected in the next 36 hours.

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1 Comment

  1. The main reason they’ve signed him is because he is a marketing asset to them despite playing for other clubs, and would continue to be long past his retirement.

    They regularly post about him on social media getting tens of thousands of interactions from fans, this all translates to MONEY.

    If he had gone to City, he would be a traitor in the eyes of every fan, and worth ZERO to the club.

    They would have had to remove photos of him from the Old Trafford Museum, and Training ground/ merchandise etc.

    It is nothing to do with getting the fans back on side, the Glazers would have happily seen him go to PSG or Bayern.

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