As it happened, Manchester United met Sporting in a pre-season friendly and after Ronaldo played superbly, scoring a goal and dazzling the United defenders, Ferguson decided it was time to make his move and signed him for £12.24m.
Later, Sir Alex Ferguson revealed that on the plane journey back from the friendly that some of his players actually urged him to sign Ronaldo, which showed how highly they rated him.
Cristiano Ronaldo made his debut for the Manchester United against Bolton at Old Trafford in August, 2003.
In his first season, he won the Matt Busby Player of the Year Award.
Cristiano Ronaldo had come in for some criticism early in his career at United that despite all his skills he never really had an end product, however, following the end of the 2004-05 season, most commentators were remarking about his growing maturity and ability to finish off moves.
There is often speculation about Cristiano Ronaldo's love life, and at one stage he was romantically linked to the mysterious
Jordana Jardel as well as
Gemma Atkinson.
Cristiano Ronaldo made himself unpopular back in England after seeming to incite Manchester United team-mate
Wayne Rooney to get sent off in the England v Portugal quarter-final in the 2006 World Cup.
Immediately after the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo was reported to want a move from Manchester United, however, he stayed at the club and extended his contract.
Cristiano Ronaldo was named Portugal's sportsman of the year (2006) by Portuguese newspaper A Bola.
The 2006/7 season was going so well for Cristiano Ronaldo that in January 2007, he was
described by Paul Scholes as the best player in the world on current form.
It was no surprise when Cristiano Ronaldo was named the PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year for the 2006/7 season.
Cristiano Ronaldo was also named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year.
The following year, Ronaldo had another stunning season and was again named Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year and the Football Writers' Association footballer of the year.
On 15 November 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th goal for Manchester United. In the same game, against Stoke, he went on to score his 101st.
In December 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned 2008 European Footballer of the Year, winning the Ballon d'Or, after 77 out of 96 journalists voted him number one.
A month later, Cristiano Ronaldo was named the Fifa World Player of the Year for 2008.
In June 2009, the BBC reported that
Manchester United had accepted a world record transfer offer of £80m from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo.
On 1 July 2009, Real Madrid confirmed that Ronaldo's transfer had been completed.
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Biography of Cristiano Ronaldo by Ben Rosenbaum
