Cristiano Ronaldo joined Manchester United in 2003 and it is claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson wanted the deal done at half-time of the famous pre-season friendly against Sporting

Sir Alex Ferguson was so impressed with the young Ronaldo that he demanded to sign him halfway through a game (Image: Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

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.

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.

Ronaldo continued to wow United once he signed, winning plenty of trophies in his time (Image: Chris Coleman/Manchester United via Getty Images)
“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 United’s top brass during that fixture, with Sir Alex being particularly impressed, to the extent that he sought to secure Ronaldo’s services right there in the middle of the match.

Thornley continued: “We’ve played the game and he was brilliant. He was absolutely outstanding. So half time’s come the players’ dressing room is one side of a corridor and the management and the medical staff’s on the other side, it’s like partitioned off.

Rod Thornley was speaking on our Euro Thrash podcast
“We’ve sorted the players out, they’re on their way out to the second half, and we come to just get ourselves changed to go out for the second half. Sir Alex is in there with David Gill, and a representative from Sporting Lisbon, and whether it was the agent, I don’t know, and they’re discussing, ‘we want to take him now, we want him tonight’.”

The former United staff member claimed that the wheels were put into motion “there and then that night”, driven by Ferguson’s determination not to let Liverpool swoop in for the talented youngster.

Thornley added: “We went out for the second half, came back and same thing happened again. Players all got started, back onto the bus, and this carried on in the dressing room while we’re locked in our own little medical staff dressing room, waiting to see what was discussed. We couldn’t listen entirely to what was being said, but it happened there and then that night. He really wanted to take him that night.

“Most games, home or away, David Gill, chief executive, Ed Woodward, whoever, would always come out the dressing room at full time no matter what.

“But this game, because it was pre-season, because it wasn’t like an official Premier League game, I think Sir Alex might have rang and said, ‘listen, come down and speak to them, we need to get this kid signed now’. I don’t know exactly how it happened, but they were definitely in there together.”

This signing proved to be a shining light for the club as Ronaldo joined the club in the summer of 2003 for a £16million fee and spent six seasons winning trophy after trophy. He won three Premier League titles, one Champions League, one Community Shield, two League cups and one FA Cup with United.

He then returned to the club in 2021 after time at Real Madrid in a £14m transfer from Juventus and spent a little over a year at United under Erik ten Hag before their dramatic falling out.