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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Jake Polden

Cristiano Ronaldo openly discussed transfer with his Man Utd team-mates

Cristiano Ronaldo openly discussed leaving Manchester United before his mega-money move to Real Madrid in 2009.

That's according to former Red Devils winger Nani, who claims his compatriot was very open with his team-mates about his career plans.

Ronaldo joined United from Sporting Lisbon in 2003, and won three Premier League titles in this time, as well as the Champions League.

The Portuguese would later join Real Madrid for a world record £80million fee, but Nani says that despite Ronaldo admitting he was one day going to leave, the speed in which he suddenly did took the United players by surprise.

Nani claims Cristiano Ronaldo openly discussed leaving Manchester United (Getty Images)

"We would stay at the end of training to do competitions and they [Anderson and Ronaldo] were my team mates, everyone has best friends or some they feel more comfortable with and they were my support," Nani told the UTD Podcast.

"Some days he [Ronaldo] was telling us openly 'I'm here six or seven years now, I think it's enough for me' he said that a couple of times.

Ronaldo joined Real Madrid for a world record £80million transfer fee (AFP)

"But it was always 'I will see, I will see, I will see' but we never thought it [Real Madrid move] would happen so fast. After we won the league in the second year he left, he produced a great season so we were still surprised."

Ronaldo would spend nine years at Real Madrid, winning the Champions League an additional four times, before moving to Juventus in 2018.

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