Juventus and Portugal superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo has been linked with an exit from Juventus for the past couple of weeks. According to the latest reports, from Daily Star, he has been linked with a sensational return to Manchester United, with the club making a formal offer to his agent Jorge Mendes.
At the age of 35, he still continues to perform at the highest level and is one of the best players in Italy right now. Since his shocking transfer from Real Madrid, the Juventus ace has bagged 71 goals from 94 appearances across all competitions.
Recently however, there have been doubts as to whether the Serie A giants would actually extend the his contract beyond 2022. The same reports say that Juventus are willing to sell Ronaldo if they do not win the Champions League this season, to help decrease their burgeoning wage bill.
This could be the forward’s last chance to play in , arguably the most, competitive league and add a few more trophies to his stellar career.
The attacker joined Manchester United in 2003 as a raw, but clearly talented, 18-year old from Sporting CP for £12 million . The rest is history as he established himself as one of the best players in the world.
The 5 time Ballon d’Or spent six seasons with the Old Trafford outfit, making 292 appearances across all competitions and scoring 118 goals. He is regarded as one of the best players to have ever played for the club, having won every possible trophy under the watchful and nurturing guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson, before departing for Real , where he would regularly continue to break records and defy all expectations placed on him.
The reports of Cristiano Ronaldo moving back to Manchester United are not new. In fact, back in 2015, the he had spoken with great fondness about the Premier League giants.
“In football, you never know what will happen tomorrow. People know I love Manchester United. It’s great there – they support me a lot… I’m very good here at Madrid, but in the future: nobody knows. Let’s see what’s gonna happen.”
The Manchester United , of a couple of years ago would surely have gone all in for the return of the superstar, especially one who began his stellar career at the club. Throw in his marketability factor and guaranteed goals, the higher ups at the club would have been left salivating at the opportunity.
However with Ole now at the wheel ,yes I’m still going with that, the possibility of a future switch is very slim. With young, exciting attackers like Marcus Rashford , Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood all doing exceptionally well and the presence of veteran striker in Edinson Cavani as well, Ronaldo’s arrival could potentially block the playing path for the aforementioned youngsters. This is something Ole won’t allow, as his vision predominantly involves the youth.
French giants Paris Saint-Germain have also been credited with a keen interest in the Juventus star and realistically they are the only other club who can match his wages, at the moment.
Much has been made of a lack of leaders at United, but this is something I disagree with, while yes we could do with more of them, we do we have Ronaldo’s Portugal teammate and our hero Bruno Fernandes. Say what you will about current captain, Maguire, I think he could flourish to be a great captain. Further, Scott McTominay is one worth keeping an eye for as a potential captain.
All these talks of us offering a formal offer is pure hogwash and should be treated as such. There was a time where we were crying out forwards of Ronaldo’s calibre, but that ship has since sailed. This is not to say, we have solved our attacking deficiencies, rather we have decided to place our faith in young, exciting forwards who are still raw, but with loads of a potential, just like a certain boy from Madeira who joined us at the tender age of 18.
In my eyes, this transfer news is just another means from his agent to extend Cristiano’s contract which runs out in 2022. There will be no sensational return. However I shall be following this story with great interest and all of you will be the first to know if something transpires.
