After a sluggish start to the summer transfer window, Manchester United ended up spending over £200 million as six new players walked through the doors at Carrington.
Despite the incomings, the big news was always whether Cristiano Ronaldo would end up staying at United. He had earlier stated that he wanted to join a club in the Champions League.
His agent, Jorge Mendes tried his best to get his client his dream move but it never ended up materialising and the United No 7 ended up staying at Old Trafford.
CR7 had multiple suitors
Mendes had spoken to Premier League club Chelsea while German clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund were also in the race at one point.
🗞️Enligt SportBild hade Dortmund kikat närmare på att värva Ronaldo, om inte de redan hade gjort klart med Hallers ersättare Modeste. https://t.co/7g1FO1lNph
(Källa: SportBild) pic.twitter.com/YNBnyDs1ea
— Keven Bader (@Keven_Bader) September 28, 2022
Surprisingly, La Liga side Atletico Madrid were also mentioned as a possible destination despite their rivalry with his former club Real Madrid.
Now, according to a report in SportBILD, “Dortmund would have considered the prospect of signing Ronaldo more intensively had they not already signed Anthony Modeste from FC Köln.”
The Bundesliga giants had initially signed Sebastien Haller from Ajax but he was sidelined for the foreseeable future due to a malignant testicular tumour, prompting Dortmund to go for a short-term alternative.
Modeste arrived on a one -year contract and Ronaldo’s agent’s offer arrived thereafter. That meant Dortmund could not go ahead with signing the 37-year-old.
Dortmund failed in their attempts
Modeste has not had the best of starts for his new club, scoring just once in nine appearances in all competitions. However, the French striker retains the confidence of his new teammates and the club officials.
Ronaldo has also not had the best of seasons so far. Initially, he failed to report for pre-season duty because of personal reasons and he is yet to start in the big games.
Ronaldo did open his account for the season against Sheriff Tiraspol but the Portuguese has struggled to make an impact for both club and country.
He will be hoping to be involved for the all-important Manchester Derby as Erik Ten Hag looks to continue his side’s four-match winning streak.
United Matchday Magazine – the ultimate pre-match experience
The Manchester derby. Ten Hag’s men are ready. This is huge.
- Get ready for the match and enjoy hand-picked news, opinion and more
- Online football content like you’ve never seen before
- No ads, no clickbait, no fake news – just 100% pure United
- Instantly delivered to your device with easy and secure online ordering
- Click Preview to see more or GET YOUR COPY FREE (usually £1.25/$1.50)
- Limited time offer: SAVE 33% on a season pass – use discount code SEASON33 at checkout.
