It has been a little over three weeks since Cristiano Ronaldo made it clear that he wanted out of Manchester United for the second time in his career. Yet, despite numerous clubs reportedly interested in the all-time great forward, he is still a United player. So, is Ronaldo actually leaving this summer?
There was so much excitement for the return of Cristiano Ronaldo last season. Every Manchester United fan (sadly, I included) thought that the return of the Sir Alex Ferguson’s “golden child” was the start of a Premier League title challenge. How naive we all were.
Seven months later and too many of horrific performances to count, Manchester United slumped to the club’s worst ever Premier League points tally (58 points) and a 6th place finish in the league. And, after a slow start to the transfer window, Cristiano Ronaldo broke every United fan’s heart by announcing his desire to leave.
So, what clubs were rumored to be interested in the forward? From what I read, Chelsea, Napoli, Bayern Munich, and Atletico Madrid were the only ones legitimately interested. Yet, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, and Napoli have all already come out and squashed any rumor that they would be signing Ronaldo this summer. Thus, Atletico Madrid are the only club still in the race.
Yet, they also have a hurdle to climb before they can think about signing their club’s nemesis as they need to offload Antoine Griezmann’s wages to facilitate a potential Ronaldo transfer. Therefore, it looks like Ronaldo is stuck at United. And maybe for a while.
The kind of clubs Ronaldo wants to play for at this stage in his career have openly rejected him. That should be a massive red flag to Cristiano and his team. If the 38-year-old isn’t wanted by the likes of Bayern Munich (who just lost Robert Lewandowski) or Chelsea (who just lost Romelu Lukaku), then who does want Ronaldo? And who will want him next season, when his is 39? Or when he is 40?
Manchester City has Erling Haaland and Julien Alvarez, Real Madrid has Karim Benzema, Liverpool has Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez, Tottenham has Harry Kane, and PSG has Lio Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe. Beside Manchester United, there is nowhere else for Cristiano Ronaldo to go.
Of course, Ronaldo could head back to Portugal to play for his hometown club, Sporting, but he has already publicly rejected that idea. He wants to still play at the highest level of football.
Thus, it seems that the great Cristiano Ronaldo is, for the first time in his career, unwanted by the big clubs of European football. Don’t feel too sorry for the greatest goal scorer in football history. He always has a spot in United’s lineup! (“Whoopie”, I hear Ronaldo moping from his home in Manchester)
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