Neville urges Manchester United to sign Bale over Ronaldo

Gary Neville has cautioned Manchester United not to sign Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, instead urging his former club to move for team-mate Gareth Bale.

United manager Louis van Gaal is reportedly interested in bringing one of the Real attackers to Old Trafford next off-season.

Ronaldo left the Premier League for Spain in 2009 for a then-world record £80million fee before Bale smashed that figure four years later.

Retired defender Neville is hesitant for United to make a move for Ronaldo and doubts whether the Portuguese forward’s return would be a success.

“I am not sure it is such a good thing for Cristiano to come back,” Neville told The Mirror.

“I’d prefer us to get Gareth Bale and that’s no disrespect to Cristiano who I think is possibly the biggest talent I have ever played with – not the best player I ever played with – but the biggest talent.

“He is an amazing player and what he did for two years at United was out of this world and it was a privilege to be part of it.

“But the idea of coming back as his swansong – it won’t be the same for him as it was before.”

He added: “He does like warm weather. He likes the sun and we know that from when he was here. That’s not a criticism of him, he was just used to that.

“It will not be the same for him as it was before but it won’t be the same for us and I am not sure.

“It would be about emotion. And I am not sure emotion and sport go together really in that way.”