‘Cristiano Ronaldo to join Valencia from Manchester United’ was newspaper headline ten years ago today
IT’S ten years ago today that Cristiano Ronaldo ‘signed’ for Valencia.
Wait…what? — We know!
According to local Valencian newspaper, Super Deporte, the Mestalla club had the player’s OK and were just waiting to make the deal official.
Valencia were hoping to take advantage of the uncertainty surrounding the Manchester United star following an altercation with club team-mate Wayne Rooney at that summer’s World Cup which had made him Public Enemy No.1 in England.
Many Red Devils fans had even turned on him.
And Los Che — who had finished the season in third place — believed they had tempted Ronaldo to turn his back on the Premier League.
It appeared Ronaldo had decided he wanted to play alongside the likes of David Villa, Raul Albiol, Pablo Aimar and Newcastle flop, Hugo Viana.
At the time, the then 21-year-old had just an FA Cup and League Cup to show for his three seasons in Manchester.
United had sold star striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and only brought in Michael Carrick in a summer of transition.
Valencia was not necessarily, in the eyes of some, a step down.
On a personal level, Ronaldo had yet to truly launch himself as a star in English football — with just PFA Young Player the Year award nominations to his name.
Sir Alex Ferguson convinced the Portuguese winger to stay at Old Trafford, and he changed everything.
Ronaldo returned that summer three times bigger in terms of muscle and starred as United won a first league title in four years.
He was named Player and Young Player of the Year.
A year on and he outdid himself — netting 42 times in all competitions as United retained their title and added the Champions League.
Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or and the Fifa World Player of the Year award.
A year later he led United to another title and finished behind Lionel Messi in the standings for annual gong — a feeling he would experience for the subsequent four years.
In 2009, Ronaldo finally did move to La Liga when joined Real Madrid for a then world-record £80million.
In Spain, he has advanced to an even higher level — re-writing the record books with a staggering 364 goals in 348 appearances.
And just for good measure, Ronaldo has netted ten times against Valencia in that time.
Oh, they were so close!