Once more, it is occurring. The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo wants to leave the club has completely thrown off their strategy for the summer transfer window. Please substitute Manchester United 2022 for Juventus 2021.
At this time last year, Ronaldo was publicly criticizing the media for accurately reporting that he was planning to leave Turin.
Despite this, he signed with United only a week and a half before the deadline for making transfers closed.
Giorgio Chiellini, who served as captain of Juventus at the time, stated that the club’s slow start to the season was due to the confusion that was generated by Cristiano Ronaldo’s eleventh-hour leave.
In September of 2018, the center back stated to DAZN that it would have been beneficial for them if the player had departed the team sooner.
“We paid something for it, and it came in the form of points—this came as a bit of a surprise to us. We paid something for it. If he had left sooner, we would have had more time to get ready for what was to come.”
The same “Ronaldo effect” should now be a concern for United. Even though nobody knows for sure, their preseason preparations are going well, which is good at least. However, nobody knows if that is because Ronaldo is unavailable or in spite of it.
Not even new boss Erik ten Hag. On the one hand, the Dutchman has argued that Ronaldo is capable of playing the high-pressing style that he wants to impose at Old Trafford. [C]onversely, [T]he Dutchman has insisted that Ronaldo is capable of playing the high-pressing game. On the other hand, he has claimed that a coach must modify his style in accordance with the players he has.
What we do know for sure, though, is that Ronaldo has created an unfortunate mess at United. This much is true.
However, everything has altered as a result of Ronaldo’s transfer request, which has only added to the unease and uncertainty already there.
It was bad enough for United to see Erling Haaland sign with Manchester City, but then Liverpool beat them to the acquisition of Darwin Nunez, which means that there is a severe lack of attacking options now available on the market.
However, there is no assurance that Ronaldo would be transferred to the team that he desires.
The fact that there is no obvious bidder for the 37-year-old player is, in fact, the major difference between United’s current problem and the situation in which Juve found themselves the previous season.
Even though Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes are known for having an impeccable sense of timing, it would appear that they made a terrible mistake with this call.
It is clear that the Portuguese player is accustomed to receiving what he wants, and what he wants is to continue playing for a team that is in the running for the Champions League.
Mendes really needed to have a new club lined up for his No. 1 client as soon as it became clear that a top-four finish was beyond them. United won’t even be in the competition next season, and as soon as it became clear that a top-four finish was beyond them, Mendes really needed to have a new club lined up.
Because there is not a single top club in Europe that is currently in a position to offer Cristiano a way out of his current commitment to play for Manchester United and it is less than two weeks till the start of the season.