Solskjaer Reveals He Consulted Cristiano Ronaldo Before Manchester United Signed $90M Midfielder

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed he consulted Cristiano Ronaldo before the club signed Bruno Fernandes during the January transfer window.

Fernandes, who moved from Sporting Lisbon to Man Utd for a fee of $90 million, has been an instant hit for the Red Devils and has played a key role in their current unbeaten run of 18 matches across all tournaments.

Ronaldo and Fernandes have known each other for a while now as they play for Portugal national side, and both had made crucial contributions when Portugal won the inaugural UEFA Nations League in 2019. The 25-year-old midfielder is understood to have followed Ronaldo’s footsteps as the latter had also switched from the Lisbon-based club to Old Trafford, where he tasted success in his six-year stint.

Speaking to the "High-Performance Podcast", Solskjaer has disclosed that former Man Utd captain Patrice Evra gave him Ronaldo’s phone number before the Norwegian called up his former Red Devils teammate to get some inside information about Fernandes.

“We’ve got the chief scouts who do all the scouting, we’ve got the analysts who analyze and break everything down to the minutest detail. But you can see that with your eye really what talent and quality you’ve got. Then you speak to teammates, who maybe play with them in the national team. So obviously Cristiano was an easy goal for me. I managed to get through Patrice Evra, I managed to get hold of Cristiano and his recommendation obviously stands him [Fernandes] in good stead,” Solskajer said.

The Man Utd manager has also said Fernandes made a great impression when he first arrived at Carrington.

“He’s got the talent, of course. You can see the quality is there and we’ve seen that for a long time. The first day at the club he shook everyone’s hand. He didn’t come in here thinking, I’m the big shot, you follow me. No, he shook absolutely every staff member’s hand,” Solskjaer added in the same interview.

Fernandes, in his debut month as a Man Utd player, bagged the Premier League Player of the Month award and showed that the club had made no mistake by signing him. In 16 matches so far since his debut in February, Fernandes has scored eight goals including seven in the Premier League as Man Utd are fighting for a place in the top four.

Solskjaer has also acknowledged the fact that Fernandes has always stepped up whenever the team needed him to.

“He steps up when it matters and he does it when it matters. He’s delivered crosses, he’s delivered assists, scored goals, he’s taken penalties, he’s done everything in a short space of time that you’d expect,” Solskjaer further said.