Why Ronaldo will likely be ‘forced to stay at Man Utd’
Ben Jacobs
- 18 Jul 2022 15:19 BST
- 4 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo's situation at Manchester United looks no closer to being resolved, which does neither the player nor the club any favours, CBS reporter Ben Jacobs writes for FootballTransfers.
Man Utd are firm on not wanting to sell Ronaldo. They’ll be relieved there’s not been any concrete interest and Ronaldo has fallen from grace where – and I say this tongue in cheek – he’s been training alongside Sheffield United.
But what he’s been doing is trying to complete an individual pre-season separate from Manchester United, so returning to the set-up after the pre-season tour will be very difficult. It doesn’t help him, in a World Cup year, that the season starts early and that he wants his future resolved.
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Ronaldo running out of options
I don’t think Atleti are a realistic possibility. They’re not the kind of club that would normally buy into large wage structures and the type of differentiation between what Ronaldo would be asking for and the rest of the squad. There’s a large amount of interest, but not many clubs are viable for Ronaldo. He needs clubs in the Champions League.
When you look at clubs outside of the Champions League, it’s not ever going to be easy for a club that doesn’t have that kind of income and cannot guarantee Champions League football.
A return to Sporting was never viable. Those links were always going to be made but there’s nothing in them. A return to Real Madrid is exactly the same. Bayern are standing firm, saying even with Lewandowski off to Barcelona, Ronaldo is not going to be the player to replace him. They’ve been asked repeatedly about him in public and continue to deny any possibility of him going there.
And that doesn’t leave anything other than Ronaldo having to accept that he will return back to Manchester United.
Playing into Man Utd's hands
From Man Utd’s point of view, they can use that as leverage. But, of course, it’s a poisoned chalice now because Manchester United don’t want to sell Ronaldo, but getting Ronaldo back is not good for the mood and it casts a shadow over the beginning of the Erik ten Hag era.
There’s just nobody lying there and waiting.
If you look at where Ronaldo might actually want to go, Spain is an option for sure but Atleti have never made a habit of paying those big kinds of wages, Barcelona are not going to take him and Real Madrid are not interested in a return. He didn’t return his time playing for Juventus but Napoli are still interested in Serie A. They fall into the category of not being able to afford Ronaldo unless he’s prepared to take a wage cut.
I think the most likely scenario is that Ronaldo will be forced to stay at Manchester United.
Man Utd will want to put their foot down and make a quick decision.
Manchester United will want to be able to rely on having Ronaldo for the whole season and plan accordingly. If they can’t plan according because this is going to drag on beyond the beginning of the season, then it’s lose-lose all around.
