Cristiano Ronaldo came to London just before Christmas.
He was a guest at a tennis tournament, the ATP World Tour final between Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the O2 Arena. It was a major event and football was well represented.
Gareth Bale, Robert Pires, Chris Smalling and Andrey Arshavin were all in attendance. Federer won, but by the time Ronaldo left town the place was buzzing with a big sports story of a different kind.
Earlier that morning, it was claimed, Ronaldo was seen at Les Ambassadeurs, a private club and casino near Hyde Park. He was with his agent, Jorge Mendes, and most intriguingly David Gill, the chief executive of Manchester United. At no stage has this meeting been confirmed by any of the parties, but the talk will not subside, either. Of course, there are some fevered imaginations in football; in the press box, too.
Equally, Ronaldo, Mendes and Gill might have come together entirely by chance. Les Ambassadeurs is a common haunt for football people. All three men are acquainted and are known there. If Gill found Mendes and Ronaldo having coffee, why wouldn't he join them? Newspapers often get tips about supposed clandestine discussions that turn out to be nothing more sinister than old friends bumping into each other on familiar territory.
The widely reported talks between Rio Ferdinand and Peter Kenyon, then chief executive of Chelsea, in 2005 are a case in point. Coincidence, said those around the table. Aha, caught you, chided the rest of the world. Yet, almost seven years on, has Ferdinand ever come close to being a Chelsea player?
Indeed, if Gill was conducting top-secret business, he would hardly choose a venue crawling with football people and the odd newspaper man. He would have more chance of keeping this appointment quiet had Ronaldo waited for him with a red carnation under the giant clock at Waterloo during rush hour.
So, having now ridiculed Ronaldo's rendezvous with a senior Old Trafford executive as at worst fictitious and quite possibly accidental, only one question remains. Suppose there is something in it? Oh go on, dream.
Suppose Manchester United genuinely have a chance of enticing him back? Would that not be the greatest coup? Wouldn't that throw this idea of Manchester City dominating the fading force that is United for a loop?
Speculation that Ronaldo is worth pursuing will increase if he disappoints again in Wednesday's Copa del Rey quarter-final first leg with Barcelona. His habit of underwhelming in El Clasico encounters is behind much discontent at the Bernabeu. Indeed, Ronaldo is still suffering a hangover from a 3-1 home defeat by the Catalan club on December 10.
In Madrid's first game back after the winter break, at home to Granada, contemptuous of the scorn he had received from his own fans throughout the game, Ronaldo did not celebrate after scoring Madrid's fifth. This went down about as well as a Catalan flag with the locals. Even club legend and honorary president Alfredo di Stefano condemned him.
On Wednesday, if Lionel Messi reigns supreme and Ronaldo is anonymous again, the derision will grow even louder. The return leg is seven days later, by which time the hint of an opportunity for Manchester United might be apparent.
Not right now, obviously. Five points clear of Barcelona in La Liga and still involved in the Champions League, there is no chance of Real Madrid releasing Ronaldo in the short term. At the end of the season, however, who knows? No club president relying on the grass roots supporters for re-election, as Florentino Perez does, will go too aggressively against the will of the many.
Were Ronaldo's open shows of defiance to continue as the crowd take against him, the crisis could quickly escalate. Inevitably, Ronaldo would become disillusioned - this is his dream move, after all, so any rejection will be doubly hurtful - and will Jose Mourinho, or his successor, have the patience to tease the talent out of him in such circumstances?
A coach might even begin to share the reservations about Ronaldo's inferiority complex, head-to-head with Barcelona and Messi; he might feel a star who cannot take the fight directly to Madrid's most challenging opponent isn't much of an asset at all. If Barcelona ended up catching Madrid from a distance this season, it would surely aid United's cause.
Of course, it would be a mistake for Madrid to lose Ronaldo, but the club have erred before. Not until Claude Makelele was sold to Chelsea did Perez appreciate he was the glue holding the team together. Maybe, like some of Manchester United's more deluded followers at the time of Ronaldo's departure, Madrid's powerbrokers will underestimate the sheer weight of his goal contribution (he has 26 this season to go with 53 last year and 33 in his first campaign).
He is La Liga's top scorer with the most shots on goal and is in the top five for goal assists. United must surely hope Madrid are blind to this magnificent contribution. Only a fool still believes Ronaldo has not been missed at Old Trafford.
Reduced to lauding the return of Paul Scholes, the result of a much discussed midfield crisis, United stalwarts must now appreciate the way Ronaldo's individual excellence masked cracks. Wayne Rooney never looked unhappy when Ronaldo was on the pitch because he made United formidable. Without Ronaldo, United have become increasingly reliant on Rooney, and the strain is beginning to show. So what if Ronaldo was open to a return? What would he be worth to United?
How about offering a fair exchange, no robbery deal, and give Madrid back the £80million that they paid? Sounds excessive? Well, Fernando Torres cost Chelsea £50m and Ronaldo is certainly worth more than that. Then factor in multiple league title wins - every chance with Rooney and Ronaldo together again - and the stealing of City's thunder. Consider also that £80m is only what United received for Ronaldo, and would not represent additional outlay as he has never been supplanted with an equivalent marquee name.
Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia are good players, but neither can be considered Ronaldo's replacements. Messi aside, who could make that claim? So here's hoping. Here's hoping that Gill, Mendes and Ronaldo did team up in Les Ambassadeurs that day, and it wasn't just coincidence, and there was something in it and, when the last coffee cup was drained, both sides agreed they really must do this again, perhaps somewhere more private next time. Because we miss him. English football misses him, and United certainly miss him.
If the 80,000 at the Bernabeu do not get the beauty of this player, we do, and he should know that. He's worth it, he really is. He's worth the £80m, plus the chief executive's 1,000 membership of Les Ambassadeurs. Indeed, that could be the best cheque the Glazers ever wrote.
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