Manchester City supporters may have a crucial factor surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo to thank for in regards to the extension of Pep Guardiola's contract at the club.
The club announced on Wednesday morning that their current head coach would stay at the side until the summer of 2025 at the very earliest.
Guardiola was entering the final few months of his previous contract, after penning an extension in the autumn of 2020.
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However, talks with senior club officials over the course of the past few months intensified in recent days that ultimately ended in the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager committing his future beyond the end of the current season.
While it is a huge sigh of relief for Manchester City fans across the globe, things may have been very different had one groundbreaking transfer come to fruition two summers ago.
That saga concerns the-then Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo, who was heavily linked with a staggering return to England through the bitter rivals of his former employers.
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Details concerning how things could have panned out were offered in light of Pep Guardiola agreeing to sign a new deal with Manchester City this week.
According to the information of Pol Ballus and Sam Lee writing for the Athletic, senior sources within Manchester City believe that if Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo had joined the club in the summer of 2021, then Pep Guardiola would not have stayed at the Etihad Stadium until the end of his then-contract in 2023.
While there had been some level of interest at the City Football Academy over a year ago in regards to bringing the former Real Madrid and Juventus forward to Manchester City, concerns remained among members of the club's coaching staff about the Portuguese international.
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The Athletic further report that key members of Manchester City’s technical staff, including Pep Guardiola himself and former assistant Juanma Lillo, had doubts about how Ronaldo would fit into the team.
Nevertheless, it is reinstated that City executives were 'very tempted' by the possibility of bringing the now 37-year-old Portugal international to the club.
Ultimately, the technical team within the reigning Premier League champions considered that Raheem Sterling’s exit from the club would be the only way they could potentially entertain the prospect of signing Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Sterling did not leave the club that summer, and Ronaldo re-joined Manchester United.
For the aforementioned England international, he only had to wait one more summer until he got his move away from Manchester City.
That came through a switch to Chelsea during the most recent summer transfer window in a deal that exceeded £40 million.
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As for Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portugal international completed a mutual termination of his Manchester United contract following days of controversy via a ground-breaking television interview.
Featured Image Credit: PA Images / AlamyTopics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester City, Manchester City Transfer News & Rumours, Manchester United, Manchester United Transfer News & Rumours, Premier League, Football, Transfers