How close did Cristiano Ronaldo come to joining Man City?

It’s no secret CR7 was a transfer target for Manchester City in 2021, but how close was a deal to being done?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s proposed move to Man City collapsed in the summer of 2021 as neither the club nor the player were 100% on board with it.

That’s according to Fabrizio Romano. The transfer journalist claims that while Juventus would’ve sold Ronaldo to Man City, there were ‘some issues’ at the player’s end. He also states that the move didn’t get the full approval of City’s board or technical staff either.

“As you’ll remember last summer, there were talks over a surprise move for Cristiano Ronaldo to join Manchester City,” Romano wrote in his CaughtOffside column.

“Still, it was never 100% approved by the board or by the technical staff at City. There were also some issues at Ronaldo’s end with his agent Jorge Mendes, so the deal collapsed, even though Juventus were happy to accept the move.

“In the end, United appeared on the scene and Ronaldo was happy to join them as soon as their interest became apparent.”

As Romano stated, Ronaldo instead opted for a return to Manchester United after learning of the Premier League club’s interest.

The 37-year-old finished his first season back at Old Trafford as United’s top scorer in all competitions; scoring 24 goals in 38 games.

Ronaldo hasn’t had an easy start to the current campaign under new manager Erik ten Hag. He will hope to turn things around, starting on Sunday. That will be when Man United visit Man City at the Etihad Stadium for the first Manchester Derby of the 2022/23 season.