Edinson Cavani admits he wanted to leave Manchester United after Cristiano Ronaldo signing

Edinson Cavani admits he would have pushed to leave Manchester United last summer had he known the club were re-signing Cristiano Ronaldo.

United completed their move for Ronaldo in the closing stages of the transfer window in a £19.8 million deal last August.

It’s understood that Sir Alex Ferguson, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra all attempted to convince Ronaldo to return to Old Trafford amid the threat of the 37-year-old joining Manchester City instead.

But while Cavani has hailed Ronaldo as a ‘great professional’, the Uruguay international admits he would’ve left United if he knew about their transfer plans.

‘Speaking the truth, as I always tell the truth, as it should be, at the moment it happened, I thought it was good that Manchester signed Cristiano,’ Cavani told ESPN’s Bola da Vez.

‘Knowing a little about the world of football today, the first thing I did was call my brother and I said, ‘Fernando, if this had happened a week ago, I would have asked you to sign with another club’.

‘But not because I didn’t want to play with Cristiano Ronaldo. No, because I had the opportunity to meet him and he’s a great professional, with his objectives, and that’s perfect for sportsmen.

‘But as I know, after years in football, how things are these days, that’s why I was talking to my brother.

‘It was more about understanding the situation. Not because I couldn’t play in my place at Manchester but because there are a lot of things in football today that are different from how they were with other coaches, how it was before, years ago.

‘But how it happened suddenly at no time did I have any sensation. I thought, ‘let’s play, do the best we can’.’

Cavani has started just six games in the Premier League this season due to injury and the