Manchester United have completed the signing of Portuguese teenager Cristiano Ronaldo on a five-year contract from Sporting Lisbon.
The Premiership champions confirmed the deal, which is worth £12.24m to the Stock Exchange.
Ronaldo had been interesting many of the big clubs in Europe and according to reports Chelsea made a last ditch effort to sign the player.
Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to the player after last week's 3-1 defeat to Sporting in a friendly and promptly sealed the signing.
He said: "We have been negotiating for Cristiano for quite some time, but the interest in him from other clubs accelerated in the last few weeks so we had to move quickly to get him.
"It was only through our association with Sporting that they honoured our agreement of months ago. He is an extremely talented footballer, a two-footed attacker who can play anywhere up front: right, left or through the middle.
"After we played Sporting last week the lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly, and on the plane back from the game they urged me to sign him - that's how highly they rated him. He is one of the most exciting young players I've ever seen."
While the 18-year-old said: "I am very happy to be signing for the best team in the world, and especially proud to be the first Portuguese player to join Manchester United. I look forward to helping the team achieve even more success in the years to come."
Manchester United should also complete the signing of Brazilian midfielder Kleberson later today after he was granted a work permit.
I believe that ronaldo is a major major talent , ive seen him play many times and its just a shame we couldn't get im.:fero:
The Premiership champions confirmed the deal, which is worth £12.24m to the Stock Exchange.
Ronaldo had been interesting many of the big clubs in Europe and according to reports Chelsea made a last ditch effort to sign the player.
Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to the player after last week's 3-1 defeat to Sporting in a friendly and promptly sealed the signing.
He said: "We have been negotiating for Cristiano for quite some time, but the interest in him from other clubs accelerated in the last few weeks so we had to move quickly to get him.
"It was only through our association with Sporting that they honoured our agreement of months ago. He is an extremely talented footballer, a two-footed attacker who can play anywhere up front: right, left or through the middle.
"After we played Sporting last week the lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly, and on the plane back from the game they urged me to sign him - that's how highly they rated him. He is one of the most exciting young players I've ever seen."
While the 18-year-old said: "I am very happy to be signing for the best team in the world, and especially proud to be the first Portuguese player to join Manchester United. I look forward to helping the team achieve even more success in the years to come."
Manchester United should also complete the signing of Brazilian midfielder Kleberson later today after he was granted a work permit.
I believe that ronaldo is a major major talent , ive seen him play many times and its just a shame we couldn't get im.:fero:
Buy on AliExpress.com
in a very Beckhamish way.... all the girls here r now going on and on abt this guy. Help! :undecide:
