Cristiano Ronaldo’s mum Dolores Aveiro reveals the Portuguese ace told her he would return to Manchester United while negotiations with Manchester City were ongoing.
Ronaldo returned to Manchester United from Juventus in a €15m deal during the last week of the summer transfer window.
The Portuguese star pushed to leave the Bianconeri after a three-year spell in Turin, where he scored 101 goals in 134 appearances.
Manchester City had opened talks with the former Real Madrid man, but Ronaldo eventually returned to Old Trafford.
The striker’s mum, Dolores Aveiro, has revealed what happened during those hectic days.
Ronaldo said: “Mum, don’t worry about what they say, because I’m going to Manchester United,” Mrs. Aveiro told ADN De Leao as quoted by Tuttosport.
“I told him that I liked it very much and he did it. Seeing the stadium full, with 75,000 people, singing his name was a great emotion,” she continued.
Ronaldo has signed a two-year deal with the Red Devils with an option for one more season.
His mum hopes he’ll end the season at his boyhood Sporting Lisbon, the team that everybody supports in Ronaldo’s family.
“Cristiano has to come back here, he would do it for me,” she said.
“He likes to watch Sporting games. I have already told him: ‘Son before I die, I want to see you return to Sporting’.
“Attention, he’s warned me that he will play until 40 years at least, so there is still time.”
Dolores Aveiro also recalled a meeting between Ronaldo and Leo Messi during the 2017 Ballon d’Or award.
“I was with Cristianinho [Ronaldo’s first son] and I told him: ‘Look, there’s Messi down there.’
“My grandchild replied by saying: ‘It’s not him, he is very small!’ Then my son [Cristiano Ronaldo] encouraged him to say hello. Messi is a very nice person, but my grandchild is already taller than him, it was a funny moment.”