Everton rejected £2 million move for Cristiano Ronaldo because of Manchester United legend - Reports

According to The Sun, Everton snubbed the £2 million signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2002 because of another future Manchester United legend, Wayne Rooney. The Toffees instead kept their faith in emerging England forward Wayne Rooney, who later ignored a new five-year contract to them to sign for Manchester United in 2004.

A new book, titled ‘Messi vs Ronaldo', has revealed that Ronaldo could have found himself at Goodison Park. The young Portuguese winger was offered to Everton for just £2 million in 2002, a year before his move to Manchester United made him the most expensive teenager in English football history. This record was later broken by United's transfer move for Rooney.

The English forward scored 28 goals and provided eight assists in a total of 117 appearances for the Toffees in two seasons.

At 16, Cristiano Ronaldo was promoted from Sporting's youth team in 2002 under Laszlo Boloni and soon became the first player to start for the club's B team at such a young age.

The 16-year-old caught the attention of all the big clubs and the Red Devils came knocking on their doors after his splendid 2002-03 season with Sporting CP. Ronaldo contributed 11 goals that season, scoring five and providing six assists in 31 games across different competitions, as per Transfermarkt.

However, the two youngsters found themselves playing alongside each other at Old Trafford instead of Goodison Park and won several titles with the Red Devils. The attacking duo were much feared in the Premier League back then before Ronaldo made his childhood dream come true in 2009 with a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Ronaldo went on to win countless individual and team trophies, including five Ballon d'Or trophies and as many Champions League titles. The Portuguese won league titles in England, Spain and Italy to place himself amongst the GOATs of the game. He also won Euro 2016 and UEFA Nations League titles with Portugal.

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Cristiano Ronaldo likely to start against West Ham United in Manchester United's last home game ahead of the World Cup

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was impressed with Cristiano Ronaldo's performance in their Europa League clash against Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol on Thursday (October 28). His goal in the dying minutes of the game and injury issues to Anthony Martial might force Ten Hag to name the Portuguese striker in the playing 11.

The Dutch manager emphasized that Rashford and Ronaldo complemented each other on the pitch, hinting that he might just have found a way to include the five-time Ballon d'Or winner in his team without compromising the team's pace.

The game against West Ham will be United's last home game before the much anticipated FIFA World Cup, which starts on November 20. Cristiano Ronaldo, who has struggled to find regular game time under the Dutch manager, will be hoping to play as many minutes as possible to get his goalscoring instincts back before the World Cup.