Carlos Freitas, ex-Sporting director
Did United get Ronaldo cheap from sporting?
No , 15m was a lot of money because he only had one more year left on his contract. It was only possible because Ronaldo and Mendes didn't want to let the Sporting club down. They had a proposal from an Italian club giving them 4 million each, provided he left Sporting on a free.
Manchester United proposed a deal that would let him stay for another year at Sporting, but then United's policy changed and they took him right away.
If you think of players with transfer fees of 15 million on one year contracts, there aren't many.
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