How City missed out on Ronaldo deal – and

Guardiola only viewed the Portuguese striker as a likely short-term solution after being frustrated in his pursuit of Kane

There were two themes Pep Guardiola did not want to explore ahead of today’s Manchester derby: how Cristiano Ronaldo has fared at United and whether City are paying the price for not having bought a No9. For not having signed, by inference, Ronaldo as they appeared set to in the final days of the summer transfer window before his dramatic return to Old Trafford.

“I am not a magician to know what will happen this season,” the City manager said, rather tetchily, when asked whether he was confident his team would score sufficient goals. “How many goals did we score last season without a striker because Sergio [Aguero] was unfortunately injured all season?

“Maybe in the future Manchester City will buy a proper striker, a No9, and he doesn’t score goals. Who knows? So we are who we are and we move forward in this sense. We have enough players to try to do it.”

The important caveat being that City did, of course, try to sign a No9. But it was not really Ronaldo. They wanted Harry Kane. Guardiola really, really wanted Kane – and no one else – and was sure that City had bid £125million for the England captain, including add-ons, and that they would have structured a deal to go higher if Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy allowed them to negotiate. Instead, he did not even respond.

It was only when that move did not happen that City began to take a stronger interest in Ronaldo, even if they were always suspicious as to whether a deal could be done, despite it being made clear to them that he had no qualms about returning to Manchester and playing in blue rather than red. Or at least that is their version of events.

Few transfers have been concluded with such diametrically opposed versions of events as to what happened in the days and hours up until the announcement about Ronaldo’s return to United. But then few transfers have ever been like this one. It is no surprise given the player involved and the rivalry and status of the two clubs, especially as, since he signed, Ronaldo has been a beacon of hope for United fans during a stormy time when it has often appeared their team – and specifically manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – are drowning.

The cameras, the talk, the attention will train on Ronaldo at Old Trafford today – just as he wants it – and it would be no shock if he added to his tally of nine goals in 11 games. Whether that will be enough is a different question, even if City are not yet firing as irrepressibly as they did last season, when they brushed aside Aguero’s fitness issues to score 83 Premier League goals.

In fact, this term City have failed to score in five of their 16 matches in all competitions and that is only one fewer than their total number of shut-outs in 61 games in 2020-21. At the same time, they have scored four or more goals seven times this season and that is just twice fewer than they did in the whole of the last campaign. It suggests they are scoring

The manager was wary of his motives, whether his end-game was to flush out United’s interest

in bursts while when they struggle, they really struggle.

It is hard to imagine Ronaldo not taking some of the chances City are creating but not converting, but Guardiola only ever saw him as a short-term fix. City are still in the market for a centre-forward but want a different profile of player, with Guardiola accepting that while Ronaldo would have scored goals, he might not have fitted in.

He was also always wary of the motives of Ronaldo and his agent, Jorge Mendes, and whether their end-game was to flush out United’s interest. At the same time, maybe Ronaldo sensed City were not really desperate to sign him.

“City are looking for a striker to stay for a while,” a source said this week. “Ronaldo was an option that came in the last week in the market and maybe it was too tight and maybe it was a very good short-term option but not really the one that the club needed. It was never close.”

United sources strongly dispute this. They claim the club swooped to ensure Ronaldo did not join City but also when it became clear that a deal was being done. They had to hijack it and were decisive in doing so. Their transfer budget had already been spent on Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, but once it was green-lighted by the Glazers there was some financial juggling to, according to a source, “structure a deal in a unique way”. He added it was like “threading a needle”.

It helped that United were willing to pay a fee to Juventus, something City were not prepared to do for a 36-year-old in the final year of his contract.

It also helped that Sir Alex Ferguson made two phone calls, one terse and to the point which basically told Ronaldo: “You cannot sign for City.” Former team-mate Rio Ferdinand was also forceful.

Far from being furious, Guardiola was phlegmatic. His frustration was with the failure to sign Kane, not Ronaldo, although he shares City’s irritation at how United have crowed about the transfer. “I am pretty sure Cristiano Ronaldo is happy being at United and they are happy to have him. That’s all,” Guardiola said. The outcome of today’s game – and if United win they go level on points with City, who could be eight points behind leaders Chelsea – will give a further indication as to who came out of the extraordinary episode a winner.