World Soccer Presents - Rise of Ronaldo (2022)

88 RISEOFRONALDO

MANCHESTERUNITED

W

hateverelse youcan

sayaboutManchester

United’s leadership,they

doclearlyunderstand

thevaluethe supportersplace on

formerheroes.

It’shardtoimagineanymanager

otherthana popularformerplayer

beingundersolittlepressureasOle

GunnarSolskjaeraftertwo-and-a-half

seasonsofinconsistentperformances,

whilethe arrivalofCristiano Ronaldo

inthe transferwindowhasgenerated

a clearspikeinpositivity.

Toanextentthat’sunderstandable,

especiallywhenthealternativeseemed

tobeRonaldoturningoutfor“noisy

neighbours”ManchesterCity. Evenif

hehadbeena failure there– andit’s

hardto seehowhe couldhavefitted

comfortablyinto a Pep Guardiolaside

• it wouldhavetarnishedthememories
  ofhissixseasons at OldTrafford,when
  hehelpedUnitedtothreeleague titles
  anda ChampionsLeague.
  Butthereis surelyamajor warning

inJuventus’willingnesstoletal

theysigned fora feeof€ 100 mill

leaveforjust€ 15 million.Cityseemingly

recognisedsucha desireto offload

himthattheythoughtitpossiblethey

mightbeabletogetRonaldofor free.

AsMassimilianoAllegrireturnedto

Juventus,there wasa recognitionthat

Ronaldowas preventingthesquad

evolving tacticallyinthewayhebelieves

theyneedto,whilealsodrainingthe

budgettorestricttransferspending–

anissuethathasbeenheightenedby

theeconomicdifficultiescausedby

theCOVID-19pandemic.

Ultimately, forallthathescored 81

leaguegoalsinthree seasons,Ronaldo’s

movetoJuventusmust be judgeda

failure.Hewasbroughtintoaddthe

goalsthatwouldbringthe Champions

Leagueafter twodefeats in thefinalin

thepreviousfouryears,butinsteadJuve

lostin thequarter-final to Ajaxandthe

last 1 6 to LyonandPorto.Evenworse

thanthat,lastseasontheysurrendered

theleaguetitleafternineyears.It’strue

right for United

Cardboard...fanstake

acut-outofRonaldo

totheWolvesgame

inexperiencedcoachinAndreaPirlo,

butina sensetheappointmentofPirlo

andthe signingofRonaldostemfrom

thesamesource:a board’s beliefthat

celebritycanbea short-cuttosuccess.

IfRonaldoseemsa betterfitfor

UnitedthanCity, it is onlybecausetheir

styleislessdefined.Hewillscoregoals.

Ronaldoremainsbrilliantatcreating

andconvertingchancesandisarguably

thebestattackingheaderofthe ball in

theworld.Thestats suggest that,inhis

final seasonatJuventus, he didbeginto

dropdeeperagain,andbecomeslightly

morethanjust a penalty-boxstriker, but

still,Ronaldo’scontributiontotheplay

asa wholeislimited.Thatshouldbea

majorworry;given thatUnited’smajor

problemunderSolskjaerhasbeen

coherentmidfieldplay.

Inaddition, Ronaldodoesn’tpress.

Heneverreallyhas,butthetendency

hasbecomestarkerrecently. Lastseason

hewas in thebottomoneper centof

Ronaldo is n

Inspite of themasseuphora surroun

Ronaldo’s remarkable return o Manch

United,JonathanWilsonquetions ho

’