Reports: Cristiano Ronaldo close to Man United return after €28 million bid

Cristiano Ronaldo looks set to be heading back to Manchester.

It just doesn’t look like it will be on the sky blue side of Manchester like we all immediately thought around 12 hours ago.

According to reports out of Italy, as Manchester City has dropped out of its attempt to sign Ronaldo, the red side of Manchester has jumped in. So much so that Ronaldo is close to making a return to Manchester United after the Red Devils have offered Juventus €28 million for the Portuguese superstar — the kind of offer the Bianconeri have been hoping to receive all along so that they don’t post a loss on the move.

How the deal breaks down and how much money Juve will receive up front depends on who you read. But, as Juve stood firm in wanting a sizable transfer fee if Ronaldo were to leave the club. Ronaldo has reportedly agreed to a two-year contract with United.

As Friday morning started, everybody was waiting for Ronaldo to finalize his move to Manchester City — which appeared to be the only club that was willing to sign him so late in the summer transfer window. But City, as had been reported from the onset of the rush of rumors over the last 24 hours, were steadfast in not paying Juventus a transfer fee. And that turned out to be a major sticking point in all of this.

But then in comes Manchester United, and with the willingness to pay a transfer fee over to Juventus to bring Ronaldo back to where his career exploded. That is pretty much all Juventus wanted after Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes informed the club Thursday that Ronaldo wanted to leave the former Italian champions.