Manchester City will have to break the bank, even for their standards if they are to land Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, according to the Express.

The Portugese star left Old Trafford to join Real Madrid in 2009 for a record £80million fee but he is understood to have become increasingly frustrated at the Bernabeu which has put Europe's top clubs on alert.

With the modern day culture in football of rich foreign ownership and the nature of fees that players are sold for, figures Real Madrid would be expecting for them to consider an offer for the 27-year-old forward have been reported by Spanish newspaper AS of being as much as £160million.

Ronaldo, regarded as one of the greatest players to have played the game has once again enjoyed a prolific campaign for the La Liga champions, scoring 22 goals from 27 games in all competitions so far this season.

An eventual return to former club Manchester United has also been rumoured and it would be expected that if the two clubs were to agree a deal then that would be his preferred destination, as he openly speaks about his respect for the club and what Ferguson did in developing him into the player he now is.

Manchester City no doubt have the financial power over United at this moment in time though. If they were to put in an offer that was too good to refuse and couldn't be matched, stranger things have happened in football although for now it is all speculation.