Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand believes Manchester City remain the "team to beat," despite his old club agreeing a deal to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
In a dramatic turn of events on Friday, Ronaldo looked set to be on his way to the Etihad Stadium before United made a last-ditch attempt to secure his signature, more than 12 years after he left the club to join Real Madrid.
Ronaldo's impending return to Old Trafford will significantly strengthen United's attacking options and potentially leave them with the strongest forward line that any Premier League club can boast, with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer able to call upon the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Edinson Cavani, Anthony Martial and Ronaldo to cause damage in the final third.
But although Ferdinand believes the addition of Ronaldo to United's squad will turn the Premier League title race into a four-way battle this season, meaning it will prove to be wide-open and difficult to predict, the former England centre-back is still tipping City to be the team that everyone is chasing.
"What this does is make it a four-way race," Ferdinand told BT Sport. "As Joe [Cole] said, I still think that City are the team to beat.
"They have the know-how, they’ve done it, they’re the champions and they’re the team who others have got to get past.
"You want it to be interesting, you don’t want it to be a one-horse race, you want loads of teams at it going into the new year and I thi nk we’re going to have that this year."
Having strengthened their squads this summer, Chelsea, Liverpool, City and United are all going to be expected to be the four sides going toe-to-toe in the battle for English football's ultimate prize.
In recent years, the title race has largely been a dominative two-way battle between City and Liverpool, but Chelsea's improvements under Thomas Tuchel and United's impressive transfer business certainly makes it an intriguing battle.
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