Why Ronaldo is a terrible fit for Bayern Munich's philosophy
Stuart Telford
- 8 Jul 2022 09:43 BST
- 4 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo is hoping to engineer a move away from Manchester United, but Bayern Munich are about the last club likely to sign the Portuguese in the Autumn of his career.
Ronaldo has not travelled to Thailand for Manchester United's first pre-season under Erik ten Hag, with the player understood to be disappointed with how things are going at Old Trafford.
Failing to reach the Champions League last season will impact Ronaldo financially. An Instagram post reporting a 25 per cent decrease in his salary was controversially liked by club captain Harry Maguire this week.
And for a player who has won four Champions Leagues, five Ballons d'Or and the European Championship with Portugal, an opportunity to add a top-level title to his glittering trophy cabinet is also something Ronaldo covets.
"Cristiano Ronaldo offering himself to new clubs" pic.twitter.com/bKK0Sy77PU
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) June 26, 2022
Bayern might offer the 37-year-old a quick route back to Europe's top table, and they have a pressing need to sign a goal-getter with Robert Lewandowski publicly flirting with Barcelona and the Catalan giants having activated "financial levers" to facilitate a transfer.
But Ronaldo is far from the profile of player Bayern would normally try to acquire, something club CEO Oliver Kahn commented on in light of the recent rumours.
"As much as I appreciate Cristiano Ronaldo as one of the greatest in history, a transfer would not fit into our philosophy," the former goalkeeper told German sports daily Kicker.
Why wouldn't Bayern sign Ronaldo?
Ronaldo earns a pretty penny at Man Utd. In joining from Juventus last summer - shunning a move across town to Manchester City in the process - the attacker penned a two-year contract worth a base £450,000/€532,000 a week, or £23.4m/€27.7m per year.
Even a 25 per cent pay cut, reported by the Manchester Evening News as something the whole squad will have to endure, would leave Ronaldo on £337,500/€399,000 a week which shakes out at £17.6m/€20.7m over the next 12 months.
A similar salary at the Allianz Arena would put him alongside the recently acquired Sadio Made as Bayern's highest-paid player, a good €2m clear of Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich and Thomas Müller.
Even Mane's acquisition from Liverpool was somewhat out of character for Bayern, and he is seven years Ronaldo's junior. The Germany internationals listed above are much more in keeping with Bayern's transfer philosophy - buying a player on the cheap with their peak still to come, or in the case of Müller, simply promoting from their youth academy.
What about Ronaldo's playing style?
Ronaldo remains a goalscoring phenomenon. He was United's top scorer last season with 18 goals in the Premier League and 24 in all competitions.
But pressing from the front was never his strong suit, and now, at 37, the numbers he posted were quite shocking: an average of seven per game, putting him the lowest percentile league-wide.
Related articles
Why does this matter? The season before Ronaldo's arrival compatriot Bruno Fernandes was the Red Devils' top scorer with 18 league goals - but the side as a whole plundered 73 as they finished second, compared to just 57 as they limped into sixth in the season just gone.
Thierry Henry nailed it recently when he described Ronaldo as United's poison, and yet their medicine, and that's not a tonic Bayern have any interest in drinking.
