Mourinho "made it clear" he didn't want Cristiano Ronaldo when he was at Man Utd

Jose Mourinho is thought to have made his feelings over the prospect of re-signing Cristiano Ronaldo while he was in charge of Manchester United clear to the Red Devils hierarchy.

Mourinho has previous with Ronaldo after the pair spent three years together at Real Madrid but the Portuguese duo seemingly did not always see eye to eye.

Ronaldo went on to return to United 12 years after he first left for the Santiago Bernabeu via a three-year spell with Juventus as well but Mourinho had long fled Old Trafford by the time the five-time Ballon d'or winner had come back.

According to talkSPORT pundit Jim White, there were numerous occasions in recent years where the chance to re-sign Ronaldo had presented itself to United but they opted against it.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Should United have re-signed Ronaldo sooner? Comment below

White said: "Over the years there have been many discussions over Ronaldo's return to Manchester United.

"It might have happened when he finished at Real Madrid, when he was still in his pomp. But it wasn't possible because Jose Mourinho made it clear he at that time had other priorities."

At the time of Ronaldo's Real Madrid exit, United were fairly well-stocked in terms of their attacking department with the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford just three of the options at Mourinho's disposal.

As a result, Ronaldo ended up in Turin with Italian giants Juventus where he won two Serie A titles in his three years at the club.

September 2021 marked his triumphant return and the 36-year-old took to life like he'd never left with a brace on his debut.

However, things have since deteriorated for both Ronaldo individually and United as a collective.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the man at the helm for Ronaldo's comeback only to be sacked two months later and replaced by former RB Leipzig boss Ralf Rangnick who was appointed on an interim basis until the end of the season.

Results have just about improved but the quality of performance has not and reports are beginning to emerge suggesting Ronaldo is just one of many United players disillusioned with the German's tactics and general approach to management.

According to The Sun, Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes is en route to England to hold crisis talks between his client and the club in a bid to solve the issues that are clearly brewing and threatening to boil over.

Ronaldo is contracted to the club until the summer of 2023 but could depart sooner if things don't drastically improve around Old Trafford.