Untold story of Cristiano Ronaldo's Man Utd transfer and how crunch talks really unfolded

Former Manchester United masseuse Rod Thornley has shared the intriguing story of how the club secured a deal for Cristiano Ronaldo back in 2003 – and it happened in an unexpected location.

Thornley revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson had expressed his desire to sign Ronaldo during the half-time break of their memorable pre-season match against Sporting, reports the Mirror.

It was previously thought that John O'Shea's challenging experience defending against the young prodigy played a significant role in Ronaldo's eventual signing with the club.

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In a 2020 interview with Copa's YouTube channel, ex-United defender Rio Ferdinand humorously recalled that O'Shea required an "oxygen tank" after playing against the 18-year-old.

However, Thornley has claimed that Ronaldo's impressive performance was enough to convince Sir Alex to try and broker a deal right there in the changing rooms after just 45 minutes of play.

Speaking on Reach's new Euro Thrash podcast - available on YouTube, Apple and Spotify - Thornley recalled: "We were on pre-season tour in 2003. We got out to America, flew back, and on the way back we stopped at Lisbon and we did the first game at Sporting Lisbon's new ground, and at the time they had Cristiano who'd just broke into the team and so had Ricardo Quaresma.

"We'd heard about them and I remember speaking to Sir Alex on the plane about these two, because I'd watched them in the Under-18/19s Euros that summer, and Sir Alex was like, 'we've got our eye on them anyway'."

Ronaldo certainly caught the eye of