Barcelona urged to make sensational swoop for Ronaldo
Martin Macdonald
- 11 Nov 2021 03:26 CST
- 3 min read
Barcelona have been tipped to make a sensational transfer swoop for Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
After informing Juventus of his desire to leave in the summer, the Portuguese forward completed an emotional return to Man Utd, the club he represented between 2003 and 2009 to huge success.
Overall, the Red Devils are having a difficult season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
After just 11 Premier League matches, they are already nine points off the pace set by Chelsea in the top spot, while in the Champions League they have been fortunate to scrape victories against Villarreal and Atalanta recently.
One of the few shining lights has been the performances of Ronaldo, who has scored nine goals in 11 starts.
TRENDING
Several of those goals have come in key moments, scoring a winner against Villarreal and a late equaliser versus Atalanta.
This week, Ronaldo has been tipped to leave Man Utd if they fail to qualify for the Champions League as they are not currently in the top four.
At Barcelona, meanwhile, they are in desperate need of reinforcements after the summer departures of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann.
Luuk de Jong and Sergio Aguero were two of the players brought in, but have either underperformed or been injured.
Tonio Freixa, a Barcelona presidential candidate before Joan Laporta was reelected, believes right now is perhaps the only time an unlikely transfer to Barcelona might happen for Ronaldo, who starred for rivals Real Madrid for so many years.
When asked on show La Porteria about the prospect, he said:
"If there is a time to do this madness is now..."
Will Ronaldo move to Barcelona?
Things are looking a bit brighter at Barcelona now that legendary former player Xavi has returned to the club as head coach following the tumultuous tenure of Ronald Koeman.
Unfortunately for Xavi, though, he will face many of the same problems that Koeman faced in the transfer market.
Barca are currently in a perilous state financially and were ordered in the summer to drastically reduce their wage bill, which is what led to the departures of Messi and Griezmann.
Not only is it unlikely that the Blaugrana could afford a transfer fee for Ronaldo, but there is no chance they would be able to afford the wages that the Portuguese superstar currently commands at Man Utd.
That is without even taking into account Ronaldo's history as a scourge of Barca in La Liga for Real Madrid.
