Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is confident fans will give Cristiano Ronaldo a rousing welcome back.
The prospective world footballer of the year spent much of the summer believing he would end up at Real Madrid, doing little to halt the avalanche of rumours coming from Spain.
In the end, Ferguson was forced to fly out to meet the player just before United went on tour to South Africa, telling him he would not be sold, no matter what sum Real offered, and that he would be staying at Old Trafford.
Ferguson is confident anger on the terraces has been quelled and Ronaldo will receive his usual enthusiastic welcome.
"I don't think he has to win the fans over," said Ferguson. "They understand he is a young man who has been tempted by the lure of money. He said he would like to go to Real Madrid but he has shown fantastic maturity in the last few weeks. He has accepted the situation and got on with it.
"There is no pettiness and he has not thrown his toys out of the pram. There are no issues at all regarding Cristiano."
Ferguson has nothing but praise for the dedication Ronaldo has shown towards his recovery from ankle surgery.
Even the United boss did not expect to see the player who scored an incredible 42 goals last year back in action until the beginning of October.
His return is well timed too given Michael Carrick could be out for six weeks with a broken foot, Paul Scholes is suspended on Tuesday and Dimitar Berbatov a major doubt after suffering a bang on the knee in Saturday's defeat at Liverpool.
Not that Ferguson intends to rush Ronaldo back too quickly.
"It has given us a lift having Cristiano around because you are talking about a truly magnificent player," said the Scot. "He will certainly be involved but it is more likely he will start on the bench.
"He has been one of the best patients I have ever seen. He has been here every day right through until 5pm. He has shown a real desire to get back playing for us.
"We might have involved him on Saturday if we had been at home. But because we were away I just felt it would be even better to give him another few days."
