Manchester City in talks to sign Ronaldo from Juventus

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Manchester City in talks to sign Ronaldo from Juventus

The Premier League champions have turned to the Portugal star after it was confirmed Harry Kane will not join from Tottenham

Manchester City have entered talks to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus, Goal can confirm.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner is keen to leave the club after three years in Turin.

City, meanwhile, are in the market for a striker after missing out on the signing of Harry Kane from Tottenham.

Pep Guardiola's side have opened negotiations with Ronaldo's agent, Jorge Mendes but suggestions than an agreement is close have been played down by club sources.

And sources close to the player have said that nothing has been agreed thus far, but that talks are advancing.

Ronaldo, a former Manchester United player, is believed to be open to the move despite saying in the past that he would never line up for one of the Red Devils' main rivals.

The Portugal star was previously offered to City but the Premier League champions only wanted to sign Kane at the time.

But City are still in the need for a new striker after Sergio Aguero left on a free transfer at the end of last season and moved to Barcelona.

On Wednesday, Mendes travelled to Turin for talks with Juventus as he looks to discuss the former Real Madrid star's future.

Juventus directors sat down with Mendes on Thursday morning to stress that they will not allow Ronaldo to leave the club for free.

The Turin side are looking for around €29 million (£24m/$34m) from any potential buyers otherwise they would suffer a capital loss.

However, City would not want to pay a fee for the 36-year-old forward.

Ronaldo was left out of the starting XI for Juve's opening Serie A match of the 2021-22 season.

The attacker came off the bench with 30 minutes left and thought he had scored a stoppage-time winner, only for the goal to be ruled out after a VAR review and it finished 2-2.

Bianconeri coach Massimiliano Allegri said he made the decision to put the star on the bench and insisted last week that the player has told him he wants to stay at the club.

"He has always trained well, I just read the gossip in the papers. He never told us he wanted to leave," he said at a press conference.

"Ronaldo told me that he is staying at Juventus."