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Oh what a sensational miss! Ronaldo had wanted partnership with Messi at Man City

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Cristiano Ronaldo was interested in striking up a sensational partnership with Lionel Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo was interested in striking up a sensational partnership with Lionel Messi before agreeing on a transfer with Manchester City.

The UK Mirror reports that the Portugal international looks set to sign for the Citizens within the next few days following a chat with Pep Guardiola and the agreement of a deal in principle.

Man City had prioritised signing Harry Kane this month but failed to agree on a price with Tottenham for the striker and quickly turned their attention to the Juventus  forward.

Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes flew to Turin on Thursday to thrash out a deal for his client, and now all there is left to complete is a fee agreed upon by the two clubs.

Man City would rather not pay a fee for Ronaldo, and have reportedly suggested swapping Raheem Sterling for the frontman.

Juventus would rather receive a transfer fee of around £25million for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, although are interested in Man City forward Gabriel Jesus. Guardiola, however, is reluctant to part company with the Brazilian.

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According to UK’s The Independent,  the shock transfer wasn’t always on the cards as Ronaldo initially enquired about joining Paris Saint-Germain from Juventus.

It has been claimed that the idea of linking up with Messi appealed to the 36-year-old, following the Argentine’s shock move from Barcelona  earlier this month.

But PSG, who have already broken the bank to pay Messi’s wages, were reluctant to splash more cash to bring Ronaldo to Paris

This led to Ronaldo considering other options, with Man City the only English club ready to bring him back to the Premier League.

PSG, meanwhile, are in the process of trying to fend off Real Madrid  from signing Kylian Mbappe.

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Los Blancos have made two bids for the World Cup winner, with the first, believed to have been around £140million, being outright rejected by the Ligue 1 giants.

Real have returned with an improved bid of £145million.

Mbappe has one year left on his PSG contract with no plans to renew, meaning the onus is on the French club to sell this month to ensure they make a transfer fee for the forward.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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