The £17m return of Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo is perhaps the biggest footballing story of the year but if it wasn’t for a former Rangers player, it might never have happened.
The legendary Portuguese striker, 36, is widely regarded as one of the best players ever and for some – many of a Stretford persuasion – he is the Greatest of All Time.
In a summer which has seen Lionel Messi leave Barcelona to join PSG – a transfer many thought might take years to eclipse – enter Ronaldo to, as he so often has, steal the Argentine’s thunder.
But as CR7’s exit from Juventus edged closer, it initially looked like it might be the blue side of Manchester and Manchester City that the ex-Real Madrid hero would be joining.
However, as talk of an Etihad deal grew stronger, enter the man who made the once scrawny Sporting Lisbon kid, ex-Rangers striker and legendary United gaffer Sir Alex Ferguson.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Manchester United launched a move to intercept the City Ronaldo deal after Sir Alex reached out to Cristiano.
The legendary Scottish boss might have left Old Trafford eight years ago, but even at 79, he’s still pulling the strings in the background at one of the world’s biggest clubs.
Ferguson grew up supporting Rangers and played for the club between 1967 and 1969, with his time at Ibrox marred by sectarian tensions.
Ex-Ronaldo teammate and legendary Man Utd centre-half Rio Ferdinand also claimed that Ferguson “played a massive part” in taking the forward to the red side of Manchester.
Cristiano Ronaldo is known still to be eternally fond of the former Rangers striker and credits much of his development to Sir Alex’s guidance at United.
But the influence of ex-Rangers figures on the making of Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t just end with Sir Alex as Darren Fletcher once revealed.
According to Fletcher, a moment of genius from legendary former Rangers boss Walter Smith transformed Ronaldo into a team player whilst Smith served as Ferguson’s assistant.
“Walter Smith joined as assistant manager around Christmas time,” said Fletcher [beIN Sport].
“With Ronaldo, you could see the talent, you could see the ability. The players were part of the reason he signed in that pre-season game against Sporting Lisbon when he tore us apart.
“You could see this charismatic kid, you could see this drive to become the best player in the world but he frustrated the life out of everybody.
“Everyone thought ‘if he could learn, if he could learn’.
“Eventually, Walter Smith came in and decided not to give fouls in training. The sole purpose was for Ronaldo.
“So when Ronaldo was doing his skills and not passing the ball and taking the mick and the lads were fouling them.
“Before, in the first six months of the season, there’d be fouls given as you’d expect and Walter said ‘no, no fouls’.
“For two weeks, Ronaldo was tearing his hair out. He was going bananas. It was open season. Hit him. What happens after a few weeks?
“Ronaldo starts playing the ball because he’s sick of being kicked. Now he starts playing one or two and running.
“Now he starts getting goals. Now it starts clicking in his head, ‘Oh, now I’m actually starting to score more goals, now I’m starting to make an impact in games. That was the beginning of Ronaldo’s transition.”
It’s certainly made the Premier League even more interesting as United add Ronaldo to a squad already bolstered by the signings of Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho this season.
Meanwhile, there have been conflicting reports that one of United’s Premier League rivals could be set to launch a raid on Ibrox.
