Ronaldo was among the many players who lost faith in Solskjaer’s capacity to steer United to silverware.

One rival coach at a Premier League club, who wished not to be named as he is speaking without permission of his employers, described Solskjaer’s United last season as “the team you wanted to play to make you feel good about yourselves”.

As for Ronaldo, the verdicts are not black and white. The reviews of his personality are mixed. Several training ground sources contacted by The Athletic insisted he remained a “top-class” professional under Solskjaer on the training ground.

Ronaldo’s allies argue his standards were too high for the environment he entered at United, where he felt the club’s structure, logistics, operations and facilities were not in-keeping with a best-in-class sporting institution. In one meeting, Ronaldo complained United “have no sporting director”, despite the fact United do have a football director, called John Murtough.

United have long-term plans to improve the club’s training ground and stadium but they did make interim modifications partially based on concerns highlighted by Ronaldo, most notably in a refurbishment of the club’s swimming pool and sauna, neither of which had been upgraded since Ronaldo left the club

Despite Ronaldo’s concerns about Solskjaer, he did attempt to unite the players, giving a speech calling for greater application and effort after the team lost 5-0 against Liverpool in October, while he also joined the players for a team bonding lunch before the 2-0 defeat by Manchester City.

It is understood that it is not only Rangnick’s staff but also members of Solskjaer’s backroom team who felt Ronaldo at times would insufficiently follow the tactical plan and instead play his own game. Indeed, some of Solskjaer’s staff had concerns when Ronaldo joined as to just how he would fit tactically into their plans.

Later in the season, Rangnick explained he had never been able to find the right balance between what United needed to be with and without the ball during his period in charge. He also acknowledged compromises had to be made tactically to accommodate Ronaldo. 

By the end of January, Rangnick had recognised what he considered to be Ronaldo’s limitations in a modern elite side and recommended that United moved the player on. United’s board, however, felt that Ronaldo’s individual goalscoring record had been strong and, in any case, there was unlikely to be a market for Ronaldo in the winter window. More to the point, the club’s board resisted as they did not feel the recommendation to be justified given Ronaldo’s importance to the team at that moment.

At the beginning of March, Ronaldo’s relationship with Rangnick came under further scrutiny. After Rangnick informed the team he would play Fernandes and Pogba as strikers against Manchester City, dropping Ronaldo from the starting XI, Ronaldo reported a hip flexor injury to the club’s doctor and spent the weekend in Portugal rather than joining his team-mates at the Etihad. United lost 4-1 and Rangnick’s tactical change had not worked. Relations between the two men were not easy.

On one Thursday in April, Ronaldo opted to train alone upon hearing of the plan for that day’s training session.

In an interview with Austrian newspaper Der Standard, published on Monday, Rangnick was asked if he would call up Ronaldo if he was Austrian.

Rangnick responded: “He’s not Austrian.”

Ronaldo had first appeared destined to join Manchester City when the club’s summer pursuit of Harry Kane had faltered and Ronaldo was presented as an alternative by his agent Jorge Mendes. Earlier in August, City had ruled out a transfer for Ronaldo, but as the clock ticked towards the deadline, the club became more curious.

City recognised the striker would guarantee more than twenty goals and City had been pursuing a striker for three transfer windows without success. They also appreciated the potential commercial value of a superstar signing. On Tuesday, August 24, Mendes was reported to have met with City representatives in Paris

Tuesday night, there was an expectation both from City and representatives of Ronaldo that the player would return to Manchester to play in light blue.

Multiple sources told The Athletic that the future of another City player, Raheem Sterling, became significant. Sterling was offered to Barcelona in the final week of last year’s transfer window, but both the player and Barcelona did not actively pursue the transfer. These sources suggest Guardiola felt he might need to move out Sterling to accommodate Ronaldo

In the meantime, news had broken publicly that Ronaldo intended to join City and the big beasts of United’s boardroom and dressing room grew alarmed. United’s then manager Solskjaer held a meeting with his assistant Mike Phelan and the pair pushed United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward to hijack the deal. 

Contrary to initial soundings from United, Ronaldo’s former manager Ferguson did not speak directly to the player but he did contact Mendes.

Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra were up until the early hours as they sought to persuade Ronaldo to spurn City and join United. Ferdinand also spoke to Woodward and United’s then transfer negotiator Matt Judge. Ronaldo’s Portugal international team-mate Fernandes also sent messages.

Woodward spoke to Mendes on his mobile phone from the back garden of his neighbour Gary Lineker. Former England international Lineker told the BBC: “He signed Cristiano Ronaldo when he was in my garden! When he walked in he was on the phone to Jorge Mendes (Ronaldo’s agent) — I hope I’m not giving too much away! I have a fantastic picture of him sat on the phone to him which I might share one day with his permission.”

United were smug. Having also signed Varane from Real Madrid and Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund, United’s executives internally believed they had secured their best summer of business since 2007, when the club signed Carlos Tevez, Owen Hargreaves, Anderson and Nani, before lifting the Champions League the following season.

In early July, Ronaldo’s representative Mendes let Manchester United know his client wished to play Champions League football this season and asked the club to facilitate a transfer. At the time, United’s owners, the Glazer family, chief executive Richard Arnold and new coach Ten Hag were aligned in that they wanted Ronaldo to remain at United.

Yet Ronaldo felt frustrated by the club’s performance last season and also felt United had been sluggish in the summer transfer market. 

With Ronaldo unsettled at United, his agent Mendes explored the departure lounge. In July, he held discussions with Chelsea’s owner and sporting director Todd Boehly and Ronaldo was on the agenda. Yet Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel made clear to Boehly that Ronaldo would not be suited to his style of play.

Mendes hoped Bayern Munich may want Ronaldo to replace Barcelona-bound Lewandowski but the German club did not bite. 

Atletico Madrid had an interest but the club’s fanbase made clear they would not tolerate a move for a legendary figure of their city rivals Real Madrid. 

The Italian club Napoli have had conversations with Ronaldo’s representatives and there were suggestions this week that a transfer could materialise if Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis is able to sell Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen.

Mendes explored a return for Ronaldo to Sporting Lisbon, the club where he began his professional career, yet this move has not yet materialised. The Sunday Times claimed this week that head coach Ruben Amorim threatened to leave the club in the event Ronaldo was signed.

There is, however, a recognition that the world of Mendes and deadline day can be unpredictable. The encouraging news for United is that Ronaldo’s demeanour has been more promising in recent days, as he reintegrates into the growing group of Portuguese and Spanish speakers at Carrington.

A year ago, Ronaldo wrote on social media: “Everyone who knows me, knows about my never-ending love for Manchester United.”

The coming days will decide whether Ronaldo’s supposed love story will continue.