Manchester Evening News

Reds were not interested in Ron

- By SAMUEL LUCKHURST

JOSE Mourinho has clarified United never considered signing Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer.

Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in an £88m deal in July amid speculatio­n surroundin­g a possible return to Old Trafford.

M.E.N. Sport reported at the time there was no concrete interest from the Reds in the 33-year-old, who spent six years at Old Trafford.

Mourinho and Ronaldo share the same agent in Jorge Mendes and the Portuguese are due to be reunited when United and Juventus face each other in the Champions League group stage.

An Italian journalist in attendance for United’s win at Burnley on Sunday asked Mourinho why United did not sign Ronaldo.

“Cristiano was never on my table to say yes or no to,” Mourinho said. “Cristiano to come to us was never on the table.”

Mourinho spoke effusively about Juve and believes they are mounting a specific challenge to win the Champions League, having lost the 2015 and 2017 finals to Barcelona and Real Madrid.

“Juventus is one of the teams in Europe who invested to win the Champions League, because they don’t need to invest to win the Scudetto,” Mourinho added. “They win the Scudetto for six or seven years. The objective is clearly to win the Champions League, which they were close twice when they reach the final, they are a top team in Europe that made one of the biggest spending, after Liverpool.”

 ??  ?? Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Juventus

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