Pini Zahavi worked hard to convey to the legendary Manchester United manager that Portuguese wonderkid was ready for Old Trafford and the Premier League
Video Unavailable
Ronaldo’s record-breaking double ‘no surprise’ to Portugal boss
Cristiano Ronaldo was quick to dedicate his return to Manchester United to Sir Alex Ferguson.
‘PS — Sir Alex, this one is for you…’, he wrote in a post celebrating his move from Juventus with his 337million Instagram followers.
Ferguson became a father figure to Ronaldo in his first spell with the club after signing him from Sporting Lisbon in 2003.
A signing that, alongside that of Eric Cantona, was arguably his best bit of transfer business as United boss.
Ferguson has rightly been praised over the years for taking a chance on Ronaldo and for the role he played in his development.
Image:
Manchester United via Getty Imag)
Although, according to super-agent Pini Zahavi, it took more than a year to convince the Scot to ignore the player’s tender age and get the deal done.
Ronaldo was just 16 when Zahavi first spoke to Ferguson about the player.
And, following his breakthrough at Sporting Lisbon in the 2002-03 season, Ronaldo was touted to other Premier League bosses including Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Liverpool ’s Gerard Houllier.
Wenger even met the player but, like Ferguson, he was reluctant to take a chance at such an early age.
After Ronaldo gave United all sorts of problems in a friendly in August 2003, Ferguson was urged on the flight home to sign him by Gary Neville and several of his team-mates who’d been blown away by his performance.
And while his mind was made up on that journey, it was the conversations with Zahavi, revealed in a new book ‘Sir Alex — Simply The Best’, which had put the wheels in motion for the £12.25million move.
Zahavi said: “The three best signings I had been involved with was to bring Sir Alex [Cristiano] Ronaldo, Rio [Ferdinand], and [Carlos] Tevez.
“They were certainly the three best signings from my side that I did with him and Manchester United.
“It was not easy at the beginning with Ronaldo, because he was so young.
“He was just a boy.
“But I managed to convince Sir Alex to take him.
“He was the first one I brought to Sir Alex, then Rio.
“When Rio was at West Ham, I recommended to Sir Alex to take him, but again he was so very young, and Sir Alex didn’t think he was ready.
“Rio went to Leeds, and there he convinced Sir Alex that he was the right player for Manchester United.”
While Ferguson took his time in signing Ronaldo and Ferdinand, he didn’t have to think twice when he was offered Tevez who, along with Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, would form an attacking threesome that would terrorise opposition defences.
“Tevez!”, added Zahavi. “It took Sir Alex two minutes to agree to take Tevez.
“When I spoke with Sir Alex he told me, ‘Yes, bring him’.”
Zahavi has dealt with big-name managers throughout his distinguished career but he rates Ferguson the finest of the lot.
He said: “He was the best, the greatest — there will never be someone like him, never be a second Sir Alex Ferguson in world football.
“The game has changed, it is different now.
“He managed everything — he was manager, coach, and CEO.
“What he achieved was simply incredible.”
Ferguson had a winning mentality that was second to none and not just in football but also in his games of snooker against former stars Paul Ince and Ryan Giggs.
Ince said: “Sir Alex has always had this love for snooker, and he would text me and invite me around to his house for a game, and Giggsy also goes round for a game.
“Of course, I would kick his a**e on the snooker table, but he would ring Giggsy and tell him he had won.
“Giggsy would then call me and say, ‘I hear you lost to The Gaffer.’
“I’d say, ‘No, I always beat him at snooker’.”
Sir Alex: Simply The Best. A tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United’s GOAT. Published by Ad Lib on October 14. £8.99; paperback https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sir-Alex-Ferguson-Manchester-T/dp/1913543528