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Thread: Ronaldo capture could shift balance of power in Manchester back towards United

  1. #1
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    Default Ronaldo capture could shift balance of power in Manchester back towards United

    Ronaldo capture could shift balance of power in Manchester back towards United

    Richard Jolly

    https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/f...r-back-towards

    Aug 28, 2021


    Around three hours before Cristiano Ronaldo sealed a dramatic return to Manchester United on Friday (Aug 28), Pep Guardiola was voicing a theory.

    Manchester City were the favourites to sign the Portuguese but the great players, Guardiola insisted, chose the clubs, not vice-versa. Lionel Messi, he argued, had picked Paris Saint-Germain. Ronaldo, he said, was in the same bracket.

    So the Portuguese soon proved. He went back to Old Trafford.

    Perhaps Guardiola was getting his excuses in early. Failing to get Ronaldo, however, is less of a blow to City than missing out on Harry Kane.

    Ronaldo was not a long-term target, but someone they talked to after realising Kane was staying at Spurs. The Tottenham man made his decision only on Wednesday.

    United had dreamt of Ronaldo for years: All 12 since he left for Real Madrid.

    City were reluctant to pay Juventus a fee. United were not. They embarked on more of a public relations offensive. Ronaldo's Portugal team-mate Bruno Fernandes called him. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer called him the greatest player of all time.

    Meanwhile, Guardiola pondered the merits of Gabriel Jesus. "I don't like it when a player doesn't run," he said. "They have to convince me why."

    The Brazilian never stops running. Ronaldo went unmentioned but he barely moves these days. He would not have suited City's pressing game.

    United were willing to accept the trade-off a player who has scored more goals - 783 - than anyone else in the history of football. He has a symbolic value to them and seeing Ronaldo in City blue would have hurt.

    But beyond the emotional element, perhaps Solskjaer's football needs a specialist finisher more. Ronaldo can come alive on the counter-attack, already a key part of United's game plan, while he is the penalty-box poacher par excellence. He will have pace, creators and risk-takers around him, a combination he should like.

    United had not bid for Kane. They had prioritised a right winger, in Jadon Sancho, and a centre-back, in Raphael Varane, and had limited transfer funds left.

    The striking role seemed set to be shared between Anthony Martial, Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood. Each may slip down the pecking order now.

    City felt Ronaldo is at his best when he is the main man at a club. He would not have been at the Etihad Stadium. He will be at Old Trafford, even factoring in Fernandes and Paul Pogba.

    City can take encouragement from the travails of Alexis Sanchez, the last player United signed from under City's noses. The Chilean was a disastrous failure, a declining force in Ronaldo's old No. 7 shirt.

    Yet the alternative scenario is that United have strengthened by getting Serie A's top scorer last season and, in a surreal day, have weakened their rivals.

    Sergio Aguero is gone and has not been replaced. The dynamics in the squad have shifted more towards midfielders with Jack Grealish the only major arrival.

    City have many a passer but few prolific finishers. Ronaldo threatens to shift the balance of power in the area back towards United.

    When City hired Carlos Tevez from United in 2009, they put up posters declaring: "Welcome to Manchester."

    Twelve years on, United might be tempted to borrow the slogan.

  2. #2
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    Default Ronaldo return puts Solskjaer on the clock at Man Utd

    Ronaldo return puts Solskjaer on the clock at Man Utd

    Kieran CANNING

    Sat, 28 August 2021


    Cristiano Ronaldo's sensational return to Manchester United on Friday capped a transfer window that has made fans quickly forget the disappointment on the field, and uprising off it, that ended last season.

    Just four months ago supporters stormed the Old Trafford pitch in protest at the club's owners for their part in the failed European Super League project and a perceived lack of investment in the club, forcing the postponement of a Premier League clash with Liverpool.

    In response, the Glazer family have sanctioned a transfer spend of nearly £150 million ($206 million) with Ronaldo joining his former Real Madrid teammate Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho.

    That investment has ramped up the pressure on United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to deliver the club's first Premier League title since Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013.

    Solskjaer is yet to win a trophy in his two-and-a-half years in charge with his mismanagement of losing the Europa League final on penalties to Villarreal in United's final game of last season still fresh in the memory.

    The Norwegian did not make a single substitution until 100 minutes had been played in Gdansk as United failed to make their far greater resources count.

    A lack of strength in depth is not an excuse Solskjaer will be able to use this season if he does not end United's wait for silverware.

    - 'Greatest of all-time' -

    Even at 36, Ronaldo is still one of the most prolific goalscorers in the game. The Portuguese netted 36 times for Juventus last season and won the Golden Boot at Euro 2020, scoring five goals in four games.

    "He is a legend of this club, he’s the greatest player of all time if you ask me,"said Solskjaer of his former teammate.

    He and Sancho, who cost a reported £73 million from Borussia Dortmund in June, join a stacked forward line of Edinson Cavani, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood.

    Behind them Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba have already shone this season in a 5-1 thrashing of Leeds on the opening day of the Premier League season.

    But a 1-1 draw at Southampton on Sunday exposed some familiar failings of Solskjaer's reign that the recruitment of Ronaldo may solve.

    The United manager can boast an impressive record against stronger opposition. He has beaten Pep Guardiola's Manchester City four times in eight meetings and lost only twice in six clashes with Liverpool. Twice he's won away to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

    But too often United have performed poorly in the games they are expected to win.

    Last season they finished 12 points behind City having dropped the same number of points against Crystal Palace and relegated Sheffield United, West Brom and Fulham.

    "That was the difference against Southampton, we weren’t clinical, we didn’t take our chances," added Solskjaer. "We had as many, or even more, chances (as against Leeds). If you’re not ruthless in the box, you won’t win points in the Premier League."

    If Ronaldo's predatory instincts turn those games into routine wins, the glory days of the Ferguson era could be back.

    According to reports, Ferguson played a part in convincing Ronaldo to return to the club where he made his name on the world stage between 2003 and 2009 rather than risking his United legacy by crossing the Manchester divide to join City.

    But there is a danger of the club harking back to their past rather than embracing the future.

    Teenage striker Mason Greenwood has scored in both his side's opening two league games of the season, but is likely to see his playing time curtailed by Ronaldo's return.

    "If other clubs can do things like this it is obviously not business for the future," said Liverpool manager Klopp on Friday on the race for Ronaldo's signature. "It is for now, immediately, that's how some clubs are working."

    Until now, Solskjaer has been given time to slowly rebuild United as a force in England and Europe.

    But with the resources afforded to him this summer comes responsibility and that means winning major trophies.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Ronaldo capture could shift balance of power in Manchester back towards United

    Man Utd, Ronaldo reunite to rekindle past glories

    Kieran CANNING

    Sat, 28 August 2021


    Cristiano Ronaldo completed an emotional return to Manchester United on Friday, 12 years after leaving as the world's most expensive player, tasked with firing the Red Devils back to the top of the English and European game.

    The 36-year-old has forced a return to the Premier League from Juventus as one last shot at a sixth Ballon d'Or and Champions League title.

    Ronaldo arrived at United as a skinny 18-year-old from Sporting Lisbon in 2003 with a bag of tricks.

    In six years under the tutelage of Alex Ferguson his physique and end product were transformed to lead United to three Premier League titles and Ferguson's final Champions League in 2008.

    However, even United could not resist Ronaldo's desire to move to Spain when Real Madrid offered a then world record £80 million ($110 million) in 2009.

    Real were more than rewarded with nine years of Ronaldo in his prime.

    He smashed the club's all-time goalscoring record at a rate of more than a goal a game, netting 450 times in 438 appearances.

    After ending Real's long-wait for "La Decima", the club's 10th European Cup, he spearheaded a run of three consecutive Champions League wins between 2016 and 2018.

    That is what United are looking for an ageing Ronaldo to repeat.

    The club he returns to is different to the all-conquering behemoth he left behind.

    United have not won a league title since Ferguson left in 2013 and have failed to even qualify for the Champions League regularly in the intervening years.

    Progress has been made in the nearly three years since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho, but the Norwegian is still to win a trophy as United boss and they finished a distant second to Manchester City in the Premier League last season.

    - Solskjaer spoiled for choice -

    Ronaldo's experience in Italy also serves as a warning of what could go wrong on his return.

    Juventus had reached the Champions League final twice in three years prior to Ronaldo's arrival in 2018 for 112 million euros.

    In his three seasons in Turin, la Vecchia Signora never made it beyond the quarter-finals -- crashing out to far less well-resourced opposition in Ajax, Lyon and Porto.

    Inter Milan also ended Juventus' nine-year grip on Serie A last season.

    But Ronaldo can argue that was a sign of the Italian giants' declining standards rather than his own.

    Juve have changed managers in each of the past three seasons only to end up back where they started by reappointing Massimiliano Allegri.

    Ronaldo still topped the Serie A goal charts last season, edging out Romelu Lukaku, who joined Chelsea this month for £97 million.

    And he also rolled back the years at Euro 2020 to win the Golden Boot despite playing just four games as Portugal bowed out at the last 16.

    Unlike at Juventus, Ronaldo is returning to a situation more akin to what he enjoyed at Madrid, surrounded by a star-studded squad.

    United had already added his former Madrid teammate Raphael Varane and England winger Jadon Sancho this summer.

    Solskjaer now has a wealth of attacking options featuring Ronaldo's international teammate Bruno Fernandes, Sancho, Edinson Cavani, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood and Paul Pogba.

    However, United' season and Solskjaer's time in charge will now likely come down to whether Ronaldo fires or fails second time around at Old Trafford.

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