Manchester United found themselves dreaming of the summer of 2021, of the formalization of the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, 12 years after his departure for Real Madrid, and after three seasons of interlude at Juventus. If the Portuguese proved prolific that year, author of 24 goals in 38 outings in all competitions, the Red Devils did not have a convincing exercise.
“ We brought him to Manchester United, but I think maybe that affected the whole dressing room, the dynamic in the dressing roomconfided today to the Daily Mail Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was then officiating on the Mancunian bench. Maybe other players felt less important because, of course, he was one of the world’s superstars coming in.. »
Result, an average season for Manchester, sixth in the Premier League ousted in the round of 16 of the Champions League. “ He was the top scorer of the year, he scored 24 goals or something… but I was fired 10 weeks later », breathes the Norwegian technician, who has still not bounced back to this day.
A departure 15 months later
However, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes that United had to recruit CR7 that summer. “ We couldn’t leave him at Manchester City because he would have probably scored more goals than Erling Haaland at the moment », Says the former striker, while the Skyblues were indeed also on the spot during this 2021 off-season.
Finally, Cristiano Ronaldo will leave Manchester in relative indifference in November 2022, 15 months after his return. He will join a few weeks later in Saudi Arabia, in the ranks of Al-Nassr, a club to which he still currently belongs and for which he has scored 70 goals in 77 matches – the latest this Friday.
