Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Manchester City will go ahead, it has been claimed. The Juventus star is eager to leave the Serie A giants behind. And a blockbuster move to the Etihad Stadium now appears to be on the cards.
Ronaldo has previously insisted it would be ‘very difficult’ to play for City due to his love of Manchester United.
But, now, a move to the Etihad Stadium is moving slowly closer.
City want to sign Ronaldo after missing out on Harry Kane, with the England international poised to stay at Tottenham for another year.
They have been linked with Bayern Munich hitman Robert Lewandowski but it’s the Portugal international, instead, who looks likely to move.
And European football expert Julien Laurens has claimed Ronaldo’s move to City ‘will happen’, in news that will break the hearts of Manchester United.
The veteran previously spent six years at Old Trafford, winning three Premier League titles along the way.
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And Laurens told BBC Sport: ”The question is fair – is Ronaldo really compatible with Pep’s football, with Pep’s philosophy? I think we all agree it’s more a ‘no’ than a ‘yes’.
“But you know he’s going to score a lot of goals because they are going to create so many chances for him, even if he doesn’t do all of the pressing and all the counter-pressing and movement that Pep asks of him.
“We know Pep is going to leave at the end of his contract in two years’ time so it’s a short-term option anyway.
“Maybe if you go down that route then you also make it work for Cristiano in the short term and maybe it’s Pep who is also going to adapt a little bit to having Cristiano in his team, as much as Cristiano adapting his own game to what Pep wants.”
And Laurens thinks a move to City ‘will happen’.
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“If you are Juventus and you know City want him and you know that City have been sat on £150m that was ready for Harry Kane, Juventus need that money to come in so they don’t make a loss on the whole Cristiano Ronaldo time at the club,” he said.
“I think this one will get sorted pretty quickly. I think this one will happen.”
Raphael Honigstein, meanwhile, has claimed a deal for Ronaldo is ‘on the verge’ of happening.
“He doesn’t strike you as a Pep player,” he said.
“He doesn’t strike you as someone who wants to play in a collective system.
“It’s a strange one, but really exciting for all of us to see how it’s going to play out.
“For a team that effectively walked the Premier League, for a team that was one dodgy line-up away from winning the Champions League, Guardiola somehow persuades himself that he needs Jack Grealish and Harry Kane to complete the puzzle.
“That seems counter-intuitive and now to go for Cristiano Ronaldo seems even more counter-intuitive.
“I just couldn’t contemplate that City would go for him, and now here we are on the verge of this move happening.”
If Ronaldo goes to City, United fans will feel aggrieved.
And that’s understandable, especially as the forward himself previously said in 2015 it would be ‘very difficult’ to play for their fierce rivals.
“To play for City not United? I’m not going to do that,” he said.
“Why? Because my heart’s in Manchester United, that’s why.
“I can say it would be very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very difficult to play at Manchester City.
“Very difficult because of Manchester United.”