Manchester United have seemingly called in the big guns of Sir Alex Ferguson to help Erik ten Hag convince Cristiano Ronaldo to remain at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo rocked the Red Devils hierarchy earlier this summer when he announced he wants to leave for a club competing in the Champions League this campaign. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner then failed to join his Man United teammates on their pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia due to personal reasons.
The United squad are back in the UK and reported to training at the club's Carrington base this Tuesday. Ten Hag arrived at 10.15am to prepare himself for a big day ahead before Ronaldo pulled up outside with his agent Jorge Mendes at 11am.
Five minutes later Ferguson was seen arriving at Carrington, presumably to sit down with the aforementioned trio and thrash out Ronaldo's future ahead of the new season.
It has not yet been confirmed why the former United boss is involved in negotiations and how much say he will have.
But it seems Red Devils chiefs are hoping Ferguson's positive relationship with Ronaldo can help convince the Portugal international to change his mind and remain at Old Trafford.
Ferguson played a crucial role in securing Ronaldo's fairytale return to United in the summer after he looked certain to join the club's bitter rivals Manchester City.
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Ferguson spoke to his former player on the phone and convinced him to sign for the club that helped turn him into one of the best players in the world before his 2009 transfer to Real Madrid.
Ronaldo agreed, later telling the club's official website: "As everybody knows, since I signed for Manchester [United] at 18, Sir Alex Ferguson was the key. I remember when we played against Manchester when I was at Sporting Lisbon.
"For me, Sir Alex Ferguson is like a father in football for me. He helped me a lot, he taught me many things, and in my opinion of course he had a big role because of the relationship that we had, we keep in touch all the time, and he’s an unbelievable person.
"I really like him a lot and he was the main key for me to be in the position that I am, that I signed for Manchester United."
Red Devils chiefs are clearly hoping that Ferguson can have a similar influence on Ronaldo this time around and convince him to snub a move elsewhere and commit at least one more season to United.
United are in the midst of transition with Ten Hag already offloading players from the previous regime and bringing in new recruits in Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez.
The Dutchman is keen to bounce back immediately in this coming season following a woeful campaign for the Red Devils and wants Ronaldo to spearhead his attack.
