No one in their right minds would ever doubt that Ronaldo will, almost certainly, continue to score goals, except that goals weren’t actually the real problem for the Red Devils, even with Solskjaer in tow.
Let’s not forget that last season, United were the second-top scorers in the Premier League, and even had the dubious distinction of having scored more than anybody else in their Champions League group, but still ended up finishing third. In the ever-indomitable and still resilient Edinson Cavani, they already have a highly-gifted, albeit thirty-something, goalscorer, who also has the sobriety and humility despite the impressive curriculum vitae to boot. Besides, they also have the additional talents and services of talisman Bruno Fernandes and Mason Greenwood to chalk up the goals when urgently needed, not to mention valuable contributions from Marcus Rashford and the occasional goal or two from puff daddy Paul Pogba.
United’s clearly-discernible problem is the coaching staff’s lack of prerequisite nous in constructing and orchestrating the attacking moves to effectively disarm and incapacitate stubborn defenses. Ronaldo is known not to help with that. Put bluntly, it’s difficult to see how he will fit in tactically as Solskjaer has himself recently admitted United never expected Juve to sell and so he was definitely not in any way a part of their plans. Lest it be mistaken for a serendipitous move for Old Trafford, this could turn out to be the final exacerbation of the United slide after the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson that necessitated the recruiting of a slew of managers who never came close in any way to stop the rot after the great doyen had vacated the hot seat.
Fergie, of course, had the great foresight and prudence to know what, more so who, United needed to take his place at the helm to further guide the club in his absence, and was desirous that either Jurgen Klopp or Mauricio Pochettino, in that order, would agree to step in but both politely declined the offer for their own best reasons. And both are currently reaping their just rewards, one with concrete, proven results in both the Champions League and Premier League in recent years, and the other in the Ligue 1 now made even more riveting and getting the renewed attention of the entire football world just because of one solitary player – diminutive in physical physique but Olympian in stature both on and off the pitch – recently joining the ranks of the Parc des Princes capital club. Which, to be honest, quite likely triggered off the move by Ronaldo to make a quick exit from the Serie A as it looked like he had long overstayed his welcome at the Bianconeri.
At the end of the day, Ronaldo is better in his twilight years now more as content and fodder for the media for the simple reason that elite clubs these days are, first and foremost, voracious content producers to satiate primarily the social media masses. Paul Robinson coming back to Neighbors or Dirty Den returning to EastEnders? That’s content ideal for the narrative that actually sells in these contemporary times.
Hey, why bother with the arduous rigors and bothersome rigmarole of implementing an antiquated club philosophy that the the more impressionable, and younger, masses ultimately view as boring anyway. Not to mention also that it also takes ages for any philosophy worth its weight in gold to take root among the new generation of players and bear fruit in some distant future that the majority of fans do not have the requisite patience to wait for. It’s infinitely much easier to sign a big name for the ensuing, immediate dopamine kick that invariably leads to inane talk of not only winning big in the transfer market but also . There are those who see Juve’s signing of Ronaldo as indicative of Serie A regaining its mojo; on the contrary, it was emblematic of its decadence, a superclub being lulled and lured onto the rocks by the enchanting, and dangerously deceptive, siren call of celebrity.
It has often been postulated that celebrity in football is the enemy of coherence — and, in modern football, coherence demarcates the very best from the rest. But who really knows anyway? Perhaps United fans are just content to be happy and over-eager for more glory days again after such a long labyrinthian journey without any major Cup since the legendary Scotsman hung up his notorious hairdryers, but thee’s realistically such a huge chasm to bridge to actually believe that Ronaldo can singlehandedly take them any closer to mounting a serious Premier League title challenge, let alone a Champions League trophy that he couldn’t get even remotely close to at Juventus. Fact and not fiction. Constructive evaluation and not criticism.
CR7 fans would be going ballistic reading this but someone’s got to play the devil’s advocate as this is a whimsical signing that fits the pattern as a short-term crowd-pleaser playing to the gallery’s whims and fantasies that has characterized much of the eight years since Fergie retired.
Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford is being gloriously heralded as the final piece in Manchester United’s grand jigsaw plans to mount a serious title challenge.
After all, it’s incomprehensible to anyone how the one-and-only cocksure Cristiano Ronaldo could ever be doubted as still a world-class player with his almost-unrivaled credentials to prove his stature as one of the greatest ever? Hardly any, even his greatest critics, would dare discredit his ability to still deliver the goods on the pitch.
However – despite the adamant and obviously desperate tenacity to cling on to the narrative that the trophies that have eluded their grasp since 2013 will now be finally within reach with the ever confident Portuguese leading the charge of the reassembled Red Devils at Old Trafford – the great club’s former captain, certainly no minnow himself in the stratosphere of football, Roy Keane, begs to differ.
Keane has not been bashful in admitting he has doubts over Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to United and doesn’t expect his arrival to end the club’s agonizing wait for a title.
The Portuguese man-of-war has completed his shock switch from Juventus to complete a fantasy Disney-themed, fantasy summer in the transfer market for United as he follows in the wake of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane in a last ditch effort by the club’s top brass to boost United’s chances of landing their first serious piece of silverware under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
However, not one to fall sway to the deceptive guiles of fantasies, Keane does not believe in the way the script is suddenly being rewritten with the new twists and sub-plots as he feels the major trophies will still be out of United’s grasp despite conceding that even he himself has been excited by the prospect of seeing the great Ronaldo grace the Theater of Dreams’ silken turf once more.
“Yes I have [been swept with Ronaldo mania] it’s been great. It’s great United, for the fans, for the Premier League, Keane said on Sky Sports.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s a world class player.
“The plusses and minuses… I just see the hunger and desires there. It’s not a payday for him, he’s only coming back to Man United to win stuff.
“My doubts are he won’t be the difference winning the big trophies but the League Cup, FA Cup I think that’s more than possible. He’ll want more than that.
“He’s a winner but Man United still have the same problems with or without Ronaldo and that’s midfield and goalkeeping problems.”
Having played alongside Ronaldo for five years at United with the pair winning just one trophy together – the FA Cup in 2003/04 – one can’t help but wonder if Keane is keeping something up his sleeves in voicing his doubts and raining on the United parade.
Many of Ronaldo’s former United team-mates were anxiously in touch with the 36-year-old when rumors were circulating of a possible move to their rival neighbors Man City, which another ex-United legend Gary Neville claimed would be “unforgivable”. Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra were also among those who persuaded Ronaldo to return ‘home’ to Old Trafford, while former boss Sir Alex Ferguson also allegedly played a part in facilitating the return of the comeback hero.
“He would’ve looked at it [returning to MU] thinking, where can I go, I think if he had any doubts going back to United going through the motions, forget all that,” Keane continued.
“He wanted to come to United [at 17], he’s a winner. Real Madrid, Juventus, what he’s done with his national team, he’s greedy. We’ve put him up there with Messi, he’s a winner.
“I see a lot of plusses but the big picture – I don’t think they’ll be winning the League title.”
United’s pressing and more urgent need now is for a central midfielder to link the two halves of the side. Strangely, they have withheld themselves from signing Declan Rice supposedly for financial reasons, after having having already spent £115m in landing Jadon Sancho and Raphaël Varane. If that be the case, why now is money — £20m fee, plus £20m-a-year salary to be exact — suddenly available for a sentimental indulgence?
And, equally pertinent a concern, what does this mean for Mason Greenwood, who after excelling in the opening game of the season, suddenly sees a humongous, expensively-procured obstacle looming between him and regular first-team football? United’s future is in clear and present danger of being blocked by the specters of its once-glorious past.
Nothing seems to have been learned from past mistakes and United look doomed to meander aimlessly among the shifting shadows of their past greatness.
It’s little wonder the Theater of Dreams is fast evolving into the Theater of the Macabre.