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Ronaldo is an icon at Old Trafford after making his name in Manchester under Sir Alex Ferguson’s guidance.
He’s been linked with a return to the club he left for Real Madrid in an £80m deal in 2009 in recent weeks after spitting his dummy out at the Bernabeu.
Ronaldo has been voted world player of the year but has fallen behind rivals Lionel Messi and Neymar in the earnings stakes.
He’s said to have told Real he expects to be the best paid player in the world, because he’s the best player in the world.
Seven Ballon d'Or winners if Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo weren't around
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It’s led to suggestions he could head back to Manchester United if he doesn’t get his own way.
But Spanish football expert Graham Hunter doubts a transfer will do through - because Ronaldo isn’t keen on a return to north-west England.
Speaking on The Transfer Window podcast, Hunter said: “It was May when he told a former team-mate in Cardiff: ‘I can’t live in Manchester again, I won’t live in Manchester again’.
“And he used the phrase, ‘If they could move Manchester United to a Mediterranean country I’d sign for them tomorrow’.
MANCHESTER UNITED
“If they could move Manchester United to a Mediterranean country I’d sign for them tomorrow”
Graham Hunter on what Cristiano Ronaldo said last year
“I think the market is small, I think the whip hand is with Manchester United.”
Hunter added: “I imagine it’s feasible that Ronaldo might be able to negotiate some sort of change in salary.
“I think Madrid will look at it with the coldest, darkest eyes they’ve been able to since they signed him because Ronaldo has continually held the upper hand along with his representatives.
“Now he is a declining force in terms of age and goal return is a fact this season.
“I’m not clear how other than goodwill, or the threat of some sort of sanction from Jorge Mendes, how he holds that whip hand and how he gets that (transfer fee asking) price down low enough that Manchester United will say ‘yes, we’re willing to invest in that package of transfer fee and wages’.”