Cristiano Ronaldo: Manchester United reach deal to sign footballer from Juventus

Manchester United have reached an agreement to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus, according to the English club.

United have agreed to pay the Italian giants €15m (£12.8m) plus a further €8m (£6.8m) in add-ons for the player, who is set to sign a two-year contract after personal terms are finalised.

A statement by the Premier League club said: "Manchester United is delighted to confirm that the club has reached agreement with Juventus for the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo, subject to agreement of personal terms, visa and medical."

It added: "In his first spell for Manchester United, he scored 118 goals in 292 games.

"Everyone at the club looks forward to welcoming Cristiano back to Manchester."

In a post to his Instagram account, the forward said: "Today I depart from an amazing club, the biggest in Italy and surely one of the biggest in all of Europe. I gave my heart and soul for Juventus and I'll always love the city of Turin until my final days.

"The "tifosi bianconeri" [Juventus fans] always respected me and I tried to thank that respect by fighting for them in every game, every season, every competition.

"In the end, we can all look back and realise that we achieved great things, not all that we wanted, but still, we wrote a pretty beautiful story together."

Ronaldo first signed for the Red Devils in 2003 from Sporting Lisbon, in Portugal, at the age of 18.

He left the Manchester club for Real Madrid in 2009, after winning three league titles and a Champions League.

The 36-year-old said his goodbyes to his Juventus teammates and emptied his locker as he spent an hour-and-a-half at the training ground on Friday morning.

Ronaldo is currently in Portugal on international duty, according to Sky Sports News.

Gary Neville, Ronaldo's former teammate and now a Sky Sports pundit, said: "It's fantastic news, I'm a little bit nostalgic. Nostalgia doesn't always work in football, you know it kicks you sometimes when you don't expect it.

"But the idea of him going to Manchester City was torture for Manchester United fans."

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the current United manager, played with Ronaldo until the Norwegian retired as a player in 2007.

Sky Sports News reported that Ronaldo was offered to Manchester City, but "there wasn't a great deal of enthusiasm" within the Premier League champions to bring him in.

His agent, Jorge Mendes, is understood to have approached City's local rivals Manchester United.

Neville added: "Looking at the business that Chelsea have done, that City were looking to do, I think Manchester United had to look to compete.

"I think what they've done here is bolster the squad with a proven goalscorer and a club legend."

Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri had confirmed Ronaldo's desire to leave the club earlier on Friday.

"Yesterday, Cristiano told me that he no longer has any intention to play for Juventus," he said.

"I'm absolutely not disappointed, because Cristiano took his own decision. He was here for three years, he gave his contribution, he put himself at Juventus' disposal, and now he's leaving and life goes on."

Ronaldo had joined Juventus in 2018.

Although the agreement is not finalised between club and player, members of the United squad were quick to welcome their former talisman.

Captain Harry Maguire tweeted: "Welcome home @Cristiano" while fellow Portuguese Bruno Fernandes said: "'Agent Bruno'? Welcome back home @Cristiano."

Marcus Rashford said: "Wow wow wow, he's home"; Jadon Sancho said: "SCARY HOURS!"; while Jesse Lingard said: "VIVA RONALDOOO!!!!".

Broadcaster and former footballer Gary Lineker tweeted: "Wow! Just Wow. What a signing. What a transfer window for United. What a home coming. Love it."