Louis van Gaal hoping for Cristiano Ronaldo return to Manchester United

Louis van Gaal has confirmed Manchester United are still trying to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.

Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are all being touted with January moves in Sunday’s press, with the Premier League trio all mentioned as clubs looking to seal deals when the window reopens.

The 25-year-old was signed by ex-Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson from Portuguese club Vitoria de Guimaraes in the summer of 2010 for a reported fee of £7 million.

Bringing back Ronaldo, sold to Real Madrid for £80m in 2009, has always been among the ambitions of United’s chief executive, Ed Woodward. We are looking at all players, not just Ronaldo, but mostly you can’t get these players.

He joined Rayo Vallecano from Benfica this summer and is more or less a regular in a side who are now 12th in the Spanish top tier. “I think it’s a goal for Schweinsteiger”, Van Gaal said.

“If we win the Champions League final at the San Siro then I will walk back to Turin”.

Van Gaal wasn’t entirely definitive in terms of saying United will make a major push to try and bring Ronaldo back. One day I was training and suddenly I was told to go, to sign a five-year contract. I thought it was a joke.

“I have to give the credit to Schweinsteiger, he shoots the goal there and the defender [Deeney] wants to stop the ball”. A few observers believe he won’t return to Manchester United simply because it is a completely different club to the one he left in 2009.