Manchester City’s players are reportedly excited about the chance to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo after Portuguese talisman edged closer to joining the club.
The 36-year-old’s future at Juventus has been cast into doubt this summer and is now on the verge of signing for the Premier League champions, Portuguese reports suggest, after he agreed personal terms with City.
And while there are still plenty of obstacles to overcome for the deal to go through, it hasn’t stopped City’s players from discussing the potential prospect of playing alongside the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, according to The Telegraph.
The Telegraph are reporting that the talismanic forward has been ‘the topic of conversation’ during training on Thursday, asking Ronaldo’s Portugal and former Juve team-mate Joao Cancelo how he trains and what work he does away from the training ground.
The report goes on to add that the players believe his recent role as an orthodox No 9 will hugely benefit the team as much as Harry Kane would have, if his summer moved didn’t collapse.
The news that Ronaldo has been linked with City comes less than 24 hours after Kane’s protracted move to City fell through, with the Tottenham striker pledging his immediate future to the club over social media.
Reports in Italy earlier this week reported that City had offered the former Manchester United star a two-year deal worth £230,000 per week after missing out on Kane.
Sportsmail also understands the ex-Real Madrid forward was offered to Guardiola’s side in a £25million deal earlier this month.
But with the conditions for Ronaldo’s lucrative contract at City now believed to have been ironed out, it falls to City to negotiate a fee. This has threatened to prove a stumbling block, however, with the club said to be unwilling to splash out.
Ronaldo is believed to currently earn in excess of £500,000 per week at the Allianz Stadium. He signed for Juventus in a mega-money move from Real Madrid in 2018, but now has less than 12 months remaining on his deal at the Serie A giants.
The same report suggested that Guardiola reportedly rejected a proposal of a swap deal involving Gabriel Jesus, as City look to find a compromise.
Soon, the Catalan boss and the Portugal star could finally represent the same club, with the former having spoken about his admiration for the player before.
‘We don’t have a single player who can win a game, we don’t have a Cristiano, [Lionel] Messi, a Neymar,’ Guardiola once said, highlighting Ronaldo first.
‘We don’t have these types of players who can win games by themselves. I told the players many times, you have to play as a team.
‘I will be honest. I’d like to have a player to score, every single game, four goals and run like these players can run. I would love it.’
And it’s not the first time Ronaldo has been linked with City, either.
In fact, the Portuguese forward refused to be drawn on whether he would join the club six years ago.
An interview from 2015 has emerged where Ronaldo dodged questions on whether he could play for United’s rivals one day, as he insisted that a move would not be based on the financial aspects.
‘You think the money is going to change my mind now?’ he told the BBC in 2015.
‘I don’t think so. I think it is not going to be the problem, because if you will speak about the money, I will go to Qatar.
‘[They] maybe have more money than Manchester City, but it’s not about the money. It’s about the passion.’
Paris Saint-Germain were also sounded out as an option for Ronaldo but with Lionel Messi already in their ranks that potential switch has failed to gather any serious momentum.
It’s been reported that Ronaldo expressed his desire to exit after asking to be benched for their clash with Udinese last weekend. Massimiliano Allegri denied this while Juve vice-chairman Pavel Nedved doubled down on Allegri’s bullish comments.
‘We’ve decided together with Ronaldo. It’s normal. Ronaldo will 100 per cent stay,’ he told DAZN.
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