Cristiano Ronaldo is described as a non-unifying presence inside Manchester United’s locker room, similar to what happened at Juventus, especially over the last season.
Juventus miss a top scorer such as the Portuguese star who netted 101 goals in 134 appearances over three years in Turin.
However, his presence inside the dressing room was often described as potentially harmful for his teammates.
Back in May, La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote Ronaldo was ‘isolated’ inside the Bianconeri dressing room.
The relationship with his teammates deteriorated during the last months of his stay in Turin and many of his fellow Juventus players felt the club gave CR7 too much freedom.
Throwback to when Ronaldo left the stadium after being subbed off at Juventus
For example, the 36-year-old didn’t train the day after Juventus’ defeat against Milan in May and visited the Ferrari factory in Maranello instead.
Juventus’ President Andrea Agnelli and Exor Chairman and CEO John Elaknn accompanied the Portuguese star in his visit.
Ronaldo returned to Man United in a €15m deal in August, but despite still being the lethal goalscorer we all know, his rapport with the Red Devils teammates doesn’t seem to be too good.
‘Several of United’s younger players feel Ronaldo can be difficult to approach, with sources suggesting Cavani, even in broken English, is a more unifying presence,’ wrote The Athletic.
‘During his period at Juventus, regular observers felt that less experienced players such as Paulo Dybala shrank in Ronaldo’s presence.’
Both Leonardo Bonucci and Gigi Buffon have recently commented on Ronaldo’s exit, claiming that the Bianconeri gradually lost their DNA because of the 36-year-old.
“Cristiano’s presence had a big influence on us. Just training with him gave us something extra but subconsciously players started to think his presence alone was enough to win games,” Bonucci said in September.
“We began to fall a little short in our daily work, the humility, the sacrifice, the desire to be there for your teammate day after day. Over the last few years, I think you could see that.”
“We reached the Champions League Final in 2017 because we were a side full of experience, but above all we were a single unit and there was this competition for places within the group that was very strong. We lost that with Ronaldo,” the veteran goalkeeper added last month.
Ronaldo's return to #MUFC – a wrong move or a man in an impossible situation?
Special report on
▪️ How he's viewed by team-mates and coaches
▪️ His frustrations
▪️ The way his game has changed📝 @AdamCrafton_, @lauriewhitwell, @Ankaman616, @JamesHorncastle and @David_Ornstein
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) January 21, 2022
I normally come to Italian websites to avoid bias journalism by English media. The writer of this article should please remove politics from his work. United have had problems for the past 6 years. Not only this season
Why are you still writing about Ronaldo? Or Man Utd? Could you please focus on Football ITALIA?
Ronaldo isn’t the problem, players who don’t put in 100% into the sport, when they are in one of the top clubs in the world, are.
This is yellow journalism…Juventus is learning the tough way what was Ronaldo’s contribution. And for Man Untd, dressing room problem persisted since the time of Mourinho. So you cannot blame him for everything that goes wrong in soccer One must compliment his hunger for more goal, his desire to win every single match even at 36. Must watch again the deft chest trap for Bruno in the last match for the second goal.
I predicted the dressing room problems at United the moment he rejoined. He scores but his presence is toxic. Be reminded that United came 2nd in Premier last season. They have other prima donnas in the squad but not as disruptive as Ronaldo