The last two seasons could have been very different.
Patrice Evra has revealed that Alex Ferguson was ’99 per cent’ certain that Cristano Ronaldo was going to rejoin Manchester United before the Scot finally called time on his managerial career.
The French defender described a conversation he had with Ferguson in the weeks prior to his retirement in which he told Evra he was aiming to bring Ronaldo back to Old Trafford and to remain in charge of the club for another five seasons.
“I remember we talked maybe two weeks before and he said, ‘Patrice, I will be here another five years’,” Evra says in an interview with the Sunday Times.
“I said. ‘Yes, boss. Let’s do it.’ I was so convinced. He was looking younger and younger, amazing. He even told me ‘99 per cent, Cristiano Ronaldo will come’. I was like, ‘Wow, we are ready to bounce back and to even win the Champions League again’.
“After that everyone knows what happened. You know when you are lost and you feel like the world is crumbling? It was a big trauma. I felt lost.”
Of course, Ferguson subsequently quit the position to spend more time with his family and that decision meant Ronaldo stayed put at Real Madrid, but the revelations demonstrate just how close the Portuguese superstar was to a United reunion, and that his affection for the club means a move cannot be ruled out in the future.
Evra stayed at United for another year under David Moyes before joining Juventus.
