Sporting CP president Frederico Varandas is tightlipped on talk of seeking to bring Cristiano Ronaldo back from Manchester United.
Varandas has also sought to rubbish claims of coach Ruben Amorim rejecting the idea of signing Ronaldo.
He said, "It's important to preserve the historic and unique legacy that he will leave to world sport. I see him as the best Portuguese footballer of all time and he will always be the banner of Sporting's academy.
"We are proud to have formed the best Portuguese player of all time the times. My coach has been massacred for six months. It's rumours. It never really existed. Out of respect for Cristiano Ronaldo, the national team and United, I'm not going to raise any noise about this.
I'm not going to contribute to noise. You have to respect the player, the team and the national team for which he is committed to bringing the title. He will always be a reference. He will be immortalised in the stadium, we've had a conversation for years about that."
Varandas added, "He (Amorim) didn't veto it, because it wasn't an issue. It wasn't on the table. There was never a conversation with (Hugo) Viana, Amorim. There never was anything."
