Atletico Madrid were ‘offered’ chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo before Man Utd | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo was reportedly offered to Atletico Madrid before he joined Manchester United.

The Portuguese superstar is already off to a flyer for United following his return to the Old Trafford club, 12 years after he left for Real Madrid.

He has scored four goals in three games so far, showing he is still at the top of his game even at the age of 36.

But it might have been different had Atleti fancied signing a Real Madrid legend.

According to Carrusel Deportivo via Sport, Ronaldo was offered to Atletico Madrid during the final month of the transfer window.

Though, they were told they would need to start negotiating before August 15, when a transfer would have been complicated for a number of reasons.

At that point, Juventus still wanted to find a way to keep Juventus, while Atletico would have struggled to afford his wages.

As it turned out, they ended up signing Antoine Griezmann, but they could only do that deal because Saúl Niguez left very late in the window.

Without Saúl‘s departure, Atleti could not have made any significant commitments in terms of wages.

And it wasn’t until the last few days of the transfer window that Ronaldo became properly available, deciding he was going to leave Juventus after all, less than a year before his contract was set to expire.

From that point, Manchester United were quick to get the deal done, especially when Manchester City were touted as a possible destination.