Careful reading of the exclusive interview, published on Wednesday night, in which Cristiano Ronaldo announced his decision to stay at Manchester United indicates that both the interview and decision were made up to a month ago.
At the start of the interview, conducted with Bruno Prata of the Portuguese newspaper Publico, Ronaldo is quoted as saying: "My coach was kind enough to come and see me in Lisbon a few days ago, which I think is common knowledge."
In fact, although the exact date is not known, it is understood that Ferguson met with Ronaldo during the second week of July - something which the Scot acknowledged in his response to Ronaldo's announcement when he remarked, "We knew this would be the case because I flew to Portugal some weeks ago and we cleared the air."
That Ronaldo, who made no secret of his wish to join Real Madrid, apparently confirmed he would stay at Old Trafford for another season just "a few days" after meeting Ferguson indicates that the u-turn was forced upon him by United's refusal to sell.
The delay in announcing the decision is curious but has an obvious explanation for those of a cynical mind. Releasing the interview during the week in which the forward is due to return to England would apparently signal the start of a choreographed attempt by the Ronaldo camp to win back the hearts and minds of the United supporters who have turned against their former hero in the wake of his attempts to wrangle a move out of Old Trafford.
The hitherto unknown Prata should not have required much persuading in agreeing to delay the publication of his exclusive interview: he is the husband of Manuela Brandao, an employee of Jorge Mendes, the agent of Ronaldo.