Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo bid his side farewell on Friday after agreeing to a two-year deal to join Manchester United for a reported fee of €25million (£21.4m).
The 36-year-old Ballon d’Or winner hinted earlier this week that he wanted to leave Turin and said goodbye to his teammates on Friday, leaving the club’s training ground after only an hour.
Ronaldo shared a video to Instagram reflecting on his stint at Juve which he captioned:
“Today I depart from an amazing club, the biggest in Italy and surely one of the biggest in all of Europe. I gave my heart and soul for Juventus and I’ll always love the city of Turin until my final days.
“The “tifosi bianconeri” always respected me and I tried to thank that respect by fighting for them in every game, every season, every competition. In the end, we can all look back and realize that we achieved great things, not all that we wanted, but still, we wrote a pretty beautiful story together.
“Juve, storia di un grande amore
Bianco che abbraccia il nero
Coro che si alza davvero
Juve per sempre sara…”
“I will always be one of you. You are now part of my history, as I feel that I’m part of yours. Italy, Juve, Turin, tifosi bianconeri, you’ll always be in my heart.”
Ronaldo’s departure from Juventus was confirmed by boss Max Allegri on Friday, who revealed he was told by the player he had “no intention” of playing for the club again.
His agent Jorge Mendes offered the former Red Devils forward to Man City after they missed out top target Harry Kane, but City dropped out of the race on Friday.
That allowed United to make a bid to bring Ronaldo back to Old Trafford, where he starred between 2003 and 2009. It is understood the deal which has been agreed is for an initial €15m (£12.8m/$18m) with add-ons of up to €8m (£7m/$9m).
Confirming the news, United in an official statement said: “Manchester United is delighted to confirm that the club has reached agreement with Juventus for the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo, subject to agreement of personal terms, visa and medical.
“Everyone at the club looks forward to welcoming Cristiano back to Manchester.”
