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Olympique Marseille defender Nuno Tavares has rubbished claims that the Ligue 1 side were looking to sign Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer.
Ronaldo was heavily linked with a move away from Manchester United during the recently-concluded transfer window. He asked the club to allow him to leave if they received a suitable offer.
The Portuguese icon was keen to swap the Red Devils for a Champions League club. His agent Jorge Mendes offered his services to several teams, including Bayern Munich and Chelsea, but to no avail.
Marseille were mooted as an option for the 37-year-old at one point due to their presence in the Champions League. Fans of the French club even started a Twitter trend as they hoped to see the player sign for them.
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However, Marseille president Pablo Longoria went on to dismiss those links as fake. He insisted that signing the five-time Ballon d'Or winner would not be in line with their real project.
Tavares, who joined Marseille on loan from Arsenal in the summer, has now claimed that the Ligue 1 outfit were never close to signing Ronaldo. He asserted that there was no suggestion that the club were looking to sign the forward. He told RMC [via Le 10 Sport]:
"I didn't pay too much attention to that. I thought it was one more piece of info from social media, I never saw or heard anything concrete. I never approached this situation as something real."
Marseille had an eventful summer transfer window as they made 11 new additions to their squad. They also made Pau Lopez, Matteo Guendouzi, Cengiz Under and Arkadiusz Milik's loan moves permanent.
However, it was rumors linking the French outfit with Ronaldo that often grabbed the headlines. While the reports were exciting for fans, it appears there were never any truth to it.
Cristiano Ronaldo has thus stayed at Manchester United
Mendes failed to find takers for Ronaldo in the recently-concluded transfer window. The 37-year-old has thus been forced to stay at Old Trafford this season and miss out on Champions League football.
To add to his woes, the forward has lost his starting place in Manchester United's team under Erik ten Hag. He has started in just one of their five Premier League matches so far this season.
The former Real Madrid superstar is also yet to score a goal for the English giants this term. It remains to be seen if he can reclaim his spot in the starting XI in the coming weeks.
