In hindsight, Manchester City will feel some relief that they didn't sign Cristiano Ronaldo last summer, especially now as reports suggest he already wants to leave Manchester United.
City were close to signing Ronaldo in what would have been a huge shock, but United intervened at the last minute to re-sign their former star and prevent him from playing in sky blue. He returned a respectable 24 goals in all competitions for United, but they finished sixth in the Premier League and trophyless for another year. Now, reports suggest, he wants to leave Old Trafford.
In the meantime, City managed just fine without a striker, winning the Premier League in dramatic fashion, and have now been able to sign one of the world's most exciting talents in Erling Haaland. Eleven months on, and City will be glad United swooped in to sign Ronaldo.
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United insist Ronaldo is not for sale, and is under contract for another year, however the reports that surfaced on Saturday night claim the Portuguese superstar has asked for any acceptable bid to be accepted. If he was to leave, for all the rebuilding going on at Old Trafford as Erik ten Hag tries to make his mark on the Reds, it would be a huge blow for United.
The speculation will remind City of what could be seen as a lucky escape last summer, and Blues fans have rediscovered a telling comment from Pep Guardiola when asked about Ronaldo just before he signed for United.
At the time, City had been linked, but United had gone to action-stations and jumped ahead of the queue, but he was still technically a Juventus player.
Guardiola said: "Only I can say in these three or four days until the transfer window shuts, anything can happen but in my personal view there are few players, Cristiano Ronaldo is included and [Lionel] Messi of course, they decide where they are going to play.
"They have the leading role in the negotiations and everything is the desire where they want to play. The position right now this is my feeling that I am more delighted with the squad I have and we will say the same.
"Cristiano will decide where he wants to play, not Manchester City, not myself."
A year on, and Guardiola's assertion looks to be as true now as it was then - you just need to substitute 'City' for 'United'. If Ronaldo actually does want to leave United, and an offer comes in, it will be hard for them to deny him an exit. It might be worse for them to have an unhappy superstar than not having him at all - especially if Ten Hag is looking to overhaul the ethos at Old Trafford away from having individual egos causing problems in the dressing room.
Guardiola has always been complimentary of Ronaldo, and it's understandable that City looked into signing him last year. However, the following 11 months will have told the City boss nothing he didn't already know about United's number seven, and these latest reports would support his view that Ronaldo decides where he plays next season - not United.
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