Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes Manchester United made a mistake by re-signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus last summer ‘and it will be a bigger one keeping him next season.’
The Portuguese striker scored 101 goals in 134 games during his three-year spell in Turin. He ran away from the Serie A giants this past August, returning to Manchester United for €15m plus €8m add-ons.
Despite his 15 goals in 28 appearances with the Red Devils this term, Carragher believes that the Red Devils were wrong to welcome CR7 back to Old Trafford last summer.
“Cristiano Ronaldo’s invaluable contribution to Manchester United’s Premier League win over Brighton was another reminder of his unparalleled appetite for goals,” he wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph.
“But it does not change this reality: United made a mistake re-signing Ronaldo last summer. It will be a bigger one keeping him next season.
“Whether United wins, loses or Ronaldo scores or goes through a mini goal-drought, it is still too much about the CR7 brand and not enough about the team. After United’s midweek win, Ronaldo posted on social media about ‘the noise’ around the club. He cannot ignore where a lot of that noise comes from.”
The Portuguese striker’s contract at Old Trafford runs out in June 2023, but United have an option to extend his stay at the club for a further season. During his last season at Juventus, Ronaldo had split the dressing room. Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Gigi Buffon have highlighted in some of their recent interviews how the Old Lady had lost her DNA and the team’s unity after Ronaldo’s arrival at the Allianz Stadium.
Man United made a mistake bringing #Ronaldo back, keeping him next season would be another on.
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) February 18, 2022
the problem with ronaldo is he plays for personal glory first. and that is just not healthy for a team sport.
you see clear similarities between juve and man u, both team didnt had a problem to score, united ended last season second with 2nd highest goals after city.now with ronaldo they declined like a meteor as a team. like with juventus, that is not a coincidence
I think there is no problem to play for personal glory first. That’s of course when you are a super player, and your path to your personal glories drives the team to glories as well. Similar to the case of Madrid’s Ronaldo. He was always a selfish player who chases personal glory, and Madrid managed a lot of glories because of him. But back then he was a SUPER player. Now he needs to understand that he is only an ABOVE AVERAGE player.
The quality no longer matches the ego and now he’s tarnishing his brand. He should split to mls or china fast.
Just as an aside = look at the photo in the article. A close up of Ronaldo and behind, very close to the pitch side, ‘amongst the action’ a woman, a young child and two men cheering. This is what we need to see in Serie A – full stadiums with mixed and safe crowds. You have to admire the PL for having achieved this.
At Man United in the early days, Alex Ferguson was boss so they could control Ronaldo. At Real, he was surrounded by tough coaches like Zidane. Ancelotti and Mou, and he had amazing players like Kroos, Modric and Marcelo supplying him, not to mention Benzema, who gave up a lot to allow him to do what he wanted. Of course CR7 is an all time great, but at Juve and the new Man United, he is too old and too arrogant and definitely hurts the team. Juve are still feeling the damage, even now. The team lost its spirit, and had no investment in the midfield.
Like Sarri said, with Ronaldo you’re not managing a player, you’re managing a business and a brand.
Whether he wants it or not, he commands too much attention and becomes a distraction to a team’s overall personality and goals.
And his saying “records chase me, I don’t chase records”, is a load of bs.