Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has suggested the club is ready to hijack Manchester City’s move for Cristiano Ronaldo and bring the Portuguese superstar back to Old Trafford.
Juventus announced on Friday that Ronaldo will no longer play for the Serie A club and will leave before the end of the summer transfer window.
City was the favorite to land the 36-year-old, with the two parties having agreed to personal terms on a two-year deal. However, a roadblock remains over a transfer fee.
Juventus wants at least $29 million for the striker. However, City do not want him for free, having already splashed out $139 million on Jack Grealish.
Amid the stall in negotiations, Solskjaer has suggested the door is open for Ronaldo to return to United.
Ronaldo spent six seasons at Old Trafford between 2003 and 2009, scoring 118 goals and winning three Premier League titles before moving to Real Madrid.
“Cristiano Ronaldo? We’ve always had a good communication,” said the Norwegian boss on Friday, according to Fabrizio Romano.
“Bruno [Fernandes] has been talking to him as well, and he knows what we feel about him. If he was ever going to move away from Juventus, he knows we are here.”
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Ronaldo has previously hinted at a sensational return to United.
“Of course I miss playing for Manchester United,” he told the News of the World, per The Mirror, in 2010, shortly after he moved to Madrid.
“I played there for six years, and that’s a long time. I am still interested in watching Manchester United and, you never know, maybe in the future I could return to play there.”
Speaking with MUTV in 2014, he said: “It was one of my favourite clubs, Manchester [United]. Everyone knows that every time when I speak about Real Madrid, I should speak about Manchester United. I loved it there.
“I was 18 years old [when I joined], I won everything there, the people treat me like a god, so I appreciate it, and in the future, nobody knows.”