Sir Alex Ferguson was 99% sure Cristiano Ronaldo would return to Manchester United: Patrice Evra

Sir Alex Ferguson had tried to re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo back to Manchester United in 2013, however, after unable to achieve that goal, he retired two weeks after.

Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra also revealed that Ferguson was also trying to bring Gareth Bale from Tottenham.

Evra said the legendary boss had told him he had no plans to retire despite the intense speculation. 

However, at the end of the 2012-13 campaign, Ferguson called time on his 27-year reign after he failed in his deals to sign Ronaldo and Bale.

Evra told the club’s official podcast of Ferguson’s departure and the plans that were in the pipeline: “You know, you talk about the hardest moments [in my United career], I would say maybe this is the one.

“Two weeks before that, I remember there was a lot of media saying Ferguson will maybe retire next year, and he said, 'Patrice, I will never retire. I will be here another 10 years’.

“He then said: 'My target is I'm 99 percent sure we will have Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. I just need these two players to win the Champions League again. Ninety-nine percent'.

“And to be fair, when I speak with Cristiano, I ask him and he said 'yes' to the boss, and was coming to join United. He told me this.”

Ferguson fell short in his audacious attempts and Ronaldo remained at Real Madrid, whom he had signed for four years earlier in a then world-record £80million deal. Bale opted to join him in the Spanish capital that summer for £86m.  

Evra added about how Ferguson told the United squad he was going to retire. “After two weeks, we were in the dressing room waiting.

“When we arrived at Carrington, I see all those cameras and I was like: 'Wow, someone has done something wrong. Maybe a player is the story again! Someone has done something wrong, we are in trouble'.

“But we arrived and people said, 'Guys, you have to stay in the dressing room because the boss wants to have a chat'. And when the boss came into the dressing room to talk to everyone, it's never good news.

“He came, and he said, 'I'm really sorry. Some people have said that I'm going to retire even before I say it myself. That's why you saw all those cameras. But I will retire because my wife needs me’.

“He apologised to [Robin] van Persie, he apologised to Shinji [Kagawa], because he just brought them. He apologised to them especially.”