Manchester United enter race to sign Ronaldo

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has refused to rule out Manchester United making a late move to sign Cristiano Ronaldo. 

The Portugal international has told Juventus he wants to leave and Manchester City are current favourites to land the attacker after they missed out on signing Harry Kane from Tottenham. 

United have not made a bid to land their former attacker, however Solskjaer, who played with the forward during his time at Old Trafford, said he knows where they are if he wants to leave Italy. 

With so much focus on Ronaldo in the last few days there was no surprise Solskjaer was asked about the Portuguese star in his press conference. 

"I don't want to speculate too much. Cristiano is a legend of this club, he is the greatest player of all time. I was fortunate enough to play with him, I coached him when I got my job," Solskjaer replied when asked if United would be interested in signing him.

"He almost retired me when I got injured in that Wolverhampton game, he kept switching sides. He's such a tremendous human being so lets see what happens with him; everyone who's played with him will have a soft spot for him." 

Pushed on whether it would be great for him to return he replied: "I have to say he's probably the greatest player of all time, arguably him and Messi. It is what it is." 

Solskjaer was asked why Man Utd wouldn't try to land him in the final few days of the window, to which he replied: "I didn't think Cristiano would leave Juventus and it's been speculation the last few days.

"We've always had good communication. I know Bruno has been talking to him as well and he knows what we feel about him and If he was ever going to move away from Juventus he knows we're here."

The Portugal international turned up for Juventus training on Friday morning but left without taking part. Massimiliano Allegri confirmed it was because Ronaldo had explained his desire to leave and will not be available for this weekend's game. 

The Juventus boss said: "Cristiano Ronaldo told me yesterday that he wants to leave Juventus. This is why he wasn't training today and he's not available for tomorrow match versus Empoli".

Ronaldo's agent, Jorge Mendes, has been trying to engineer a move for his client all summer and after Manchester City missed out on signing Harry Kane the Premier League champions are looking into the possibility of signing the Portugal captain. 

Ronaldo played for Manchester United for six years between 2003-2009. He was signed from Sporting CP and sold to Real Madrid in 2009 for £80m (€93m). 

During his time at the club he made 292 appearances across all competitions scoring a very impressive 118 goals. It puts him ninth in United's list of all-time leading goal scorers. 

In six years he won three Premier League titles, one Champions League trophy, one FA Cup and two league cups.