Sir Alex Ferguson welcomed Cristiano Ronaldo back to Manchester United yesterday and then raised the possibility of the Portugal forward agreeing a new contract at Old Trafford as the manager attempted to quash Real Madrid’s hopes of signing the player in the future.

After declaring in an interview this week that he would be staying at United for at least another season, Ronaldo made a point of reiterating his wish “one day” to play for Real and be closer to his family in Portugal.

But while the Spanish champions are unlikely to concede defeat in their efforts to sign Ronaldo — many believe a transfer has simply been delayed by 12 months in the wake of Ferguson’s refusal to sell — the United manager feels that the longer the 23-year-old stays at the club, the more he will realise that the grass is not greener elsewhere and that there is no better place to play his football.

And although Ronaldo is only 16 months into a five-year contract worth £120,000 a week, Ferguson said that the club would offer him a new deal when the time is right. “Cristiano will now settle down and enjoy his career here,” Ferguson said before the Community Shield against Portsmouth at Wembley tomorrow. “He has four years left on his contract and hopefully, at some point, we would like to extend it.

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“I can’t deny it was an important issue to keep him here. There are very few players who have left me against my will and it is unusual for anybody to want to leave United.

“He is happy here, we have ended all the stuff about Real Madrid, and hopefully as he gets older he will appreciate being here more and more. It does happen to players the longer they stay at this club. They end up never wanting to leave.

“Look at Rio Ferdinand. He joined us as a young man from Leeds United. Now he is a real Manchester United person, he loves the club. He has a big influence in the dressing-room now.

“It’s not easy for young people to come to our country. They have to settle in, get used to the culture and get used to the dressing-room.

“That’s what we have experienced with quite a few of them. \ Vidic has settled now. When he first came his wife was expecting, there were a lot of things to get used to coming to Manchester from Russia. It takes time and we hope that all the players we have settle here and have great careers at the club.”

Ronaldo is still on schedule to return by October after ankle surgery, but while Ferguson accepts that any team would miss a player who plundered 42 goals in all competitions last season, the manager is convinced that the club will be able to cope in the meantime, especially if his efforts to capture a new striker bear fruit.

Ferguson said that he was working on “three or four different options” and hoped to make a new signing by the start of the season, with an improved bid for Dimitar Berbatov, the Tottenham Hotspur striker, expected to be lodged imminently. The United manager is also thought to have cast covetous glances in the direction of David Villa, the Valencia and Spain forward, although Berbatov is believed to be his principal target.

The Community Shield will come too early for Wayne Rooney, but Ferguson hopes that the England forward may be fit for their opening Barclays Premier League game, at home to Newcastle United a week tomorrow, after returning to training yesterday in the wake of a virus.