Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer from Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United for just over £12m in 2003 was an important milestone in him becoming one of the greatest players of all time. The Portuguese winger was highly thought after at the time, but his move to England happened fairly quickly and was also influenced by the Manchester United squad, who had suffered at Ronaldo’s hand during a pre-season friendly in Lisbon in August 2003.
It saw United’s unbeaten run in pre-season end with a 3-1 defeat to Lisbon in which Ronaldo shone. United had rested many of his squad, but still featured a strong team, that included Fabien Barthez, Paul Scholes Nicky Butt, Rio Ferdinand and John O’Shea. After the game, Ronaldo was the talk of the United dressing room and the plane journey home, as the squad begged Ferguson to sign the youngster.
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Ronaldo Torments Man Utd Stars
John O’Shea had a torrid time against the youngster
The United players were taken by Ronaldo’s presence on the field. Former United midfielder Quinton Fortune said: “We sat in the dressing room after the 3-1 defeat and we were just raving about him. Why wouldn’t we? He was unbelievable. Most of us had never seen anyone with such a swagger.”
United defender still teases former team mate Rio Ferdinand about the night he faced Ronaldo.
“We get in at half-time and John O’Shea must’ve needed an oxygen tank next to him. He was in bits and he was sitting there panting.
“We were telling him to get closer to Ronaldo and he couldn’t even answer us. To be fair, me, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were standing there, going this kid’s unbelievable, we’ve got to sign him.”
Gary Neville was another who couldn’t help be impressed by Ronaldo. He said: “I’ll never forget that game against Sporting Lisbon and the chat among the players when they got back to Manchester. Poor Sheasy [John O’Shea] was the butt of a lot of jokes for being given a run-around.”
Ronaldo also has special memories of that night, claiming: “The first game that I played against Manchester United was an unbelievable game. It was the perfect night. After the game some of my team-mates said: Listen, you’re going to go to Manchester, trust me!”
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United Wasted no Time Signing Ronaldo
He joined in the same calendar month
United, along with Arsenal and Liverpool, had been trailing Ronaldo for a year and already had a first-refusal arrangement in place with Sporting Lisbon, but speed was the key to securing his signature. Despite the players’ insistence Ferguson sign Ronaldo, some say the wily Scot was already a few steps ahead of his players, allegedly trying to sign the youngster during half-time of the friendly with Lisbon.
Former United employee Rod Thornley recalls Ferguson’s eagerness. “So half time’s come – the players’ dressing room is one side of a corridor and the management and the medical staff’s on the other side, it’s like partitioned off,” he said.
“We’ve sorted the players out, they’re on their way out to the second half, and we come to just get ourselves changed to go out for the second half. Sir Alex is in there with David Gill, and a representative from Sporting Lisbon, and whether it was the agent, I don’t know, and they’re discussing, we want to take him now, we want him tonight”.
Things did move fast anyway, with Ronaldo being at Old Trafford to sign for the club the next week. For Ronaldo, it was a whirlwind few days. “Everything came so fast, and two days after I speak to the coach and they take me to England, and I was in Manchester, and I signed,” he said.
The youngster was announced to the world alongside fellow new signing Kleberson, who had won the World Cup with Brazil the previous year. While Ronaldo was touted to do well, few would have predicted just how much he would go onto achieve in the game, for United, as well as with Real Madrid and the Portuguese national side.
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