Ronaldo phone call convinced pair to sign for Man Utd despite hating weather

Manchester United have had some of the very best players that the Premier League has ever seen over the course of its history.

But what fans love more than anything is someone that wears the club badge with honour and gives absolutely everything week in, week out for a full 90 minutes. In Rafael, they certainly found exactly that - a cult hero among the Red Devils - who truly knew what it meant to be in such a prestigious team.

However, it might not have been that way had it not been for a timely intervention from Cristiano Ronaldo, who convinced the Brazilian - as well as his twin brother Fabio - to make the move to Old Trafford. Arsenal were also battling it out for the Da Silva twins back in 2007 after being extensively scouted by both sides.

Former United scout Les Kershaw immediately rang up Sir Alex Ferguson after watching them and convinced him to take a closer look at the duo. However, it was Ronaldo - who was an absolute superstar even back then - that made up their minds, even if he did denounce the horrific Manchester weather.

"He called my phone, and I'll never forget that," Rafael told UTD Podcast hosts Helen Evans, Sam Homewood and David May. My phone had all the zeros [on the screen, to indicate an international call] and I was saying 'Who is this? I've never received a call like this.'

"I answered, and I knew him because I'd trained with him before. He just said: 'Ah, [Portuguese greeting]!' I ran to my bus saying: 'It's Ronaldo, it's Ronaldo! He's calling us to speak!'

"He just said: 'It's raining here, it's raining here in Manchester, like you know.' He said: 'I call to say to you guys: sign for Manchester United. I know you are going to like it,' et cetera. I could not believe [it]. It was amazing."

It turned out to be a fine decision from Rafael, who was taken under Gary Neville's wing as his understudy as the United legend's career wound down. However, he still had to fight with John O'Shea for the position.

Eventually, Rafael won the trust of Ferguson in his final season in charge - making 28 appearances in the Premier League as United lifted the title in the Scotsman's swansong season. In perhaps his best-ever moment for the Red Devils, the right-back absolutely thundered one into the roof of the net against QPR in that season that is remembered as one of the goals of the season.

His brother, however, was not so lucky and was nothing more than a sporadic player at Old Trafford - making a total of 56 appearances in five seasons with a year at QPR on top of that. Moves to Cardiff and Middlesbrough before settling at Nantes while his twin sibling finds himself back in Brazil with Botafogo.