The great CR7 has made his return to Manchester United after 12 years away expanding his horizons playing for Real Madrid and Juventus, sealing his stature as one of the greatest players ever. However, the Portuguese megastar’s experience in the Serie A with the Bianconeri is now viewed as a hindrance not likely to assist the Red Devils in their trophy ambitions.
Simon Jordan, who was the owner of Premier League side Crystal Palace for 10 years, believes Ronaldo will not have the same impact in the Premier League that he so magnificently displayed before because of the Italian league’s lack of physicality.
The former Manchester United prodigy has rejoined Old Trafford in a return heavily sensationalized by all and sundry at the club 12 years after the five-time Ballon d’Or winner left to achieve greater individual glory with Real Madrid in the La Liga. Since his departure in 2009, the 36-year-old has taken his trophy count to 30 major honors, with the last five while he was with Italian giants Juventus.
Ronaldo scored 101 goals in 134 games for the Old Lady and ended last season with 81 of them finding the net in the Serie A last season to make him Europe’s third-top goalscorer. Unfortunately, for both player and club, Juve managed only a dismal fourth placing, losing out to eventual Italian league winners Inter Milan, besides crashing out in the last sixteen to Porto in the Champions League again last season.
The Portuguese ace’s performances in recent seasons, despite still having been able to barely maintain his status quo of being among the continent’s leading goal-scorers, has raised some serious doubts among pundits, especially in a league not known for the robust play and aggressive tackles that are otherwise commonly associated with the English league, with Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk’s near-crippling ACL injury by Jordan Pickford being only but one of the more notorious examples of the Premier League’s pronounced physical attributes.
Jordan, known for his bluntness in not calling a spade the ‘implement rectangular that turneth the earth’, may not be off the mark in believing that the once-undoubtable CR7 will now be actually struggling to make an impactful transition from Italian to English top-flight football. Speaking on the White and Jordan program, the pundit said:
“It’s one thing playing in Italian football, which I know is very defensively-minded and technical but it isn’t as physical.”
Despite Ronaldo scoring 118 goals in nearly 300 appearances between 2003 and 2009 for United, helping them garner three Premier League titles and a Champions League, the 53-year-old Simon does not think the 36-year-old Portuguese will now be able to raise the bar against some of the league’s bigger sides in his second stint at Old Trafford, with the club and fan’s expectations now suddenly been raised to strotospheric levels in anticipation of his resumed prowess.
“We will see what Ronaldo does,” Jordan added.
“I don’t think Ronaldo’s going to put the fear of God into Virgil van Dijk. He will probably put the fear into Crystal Palace or Wolves or Burnley or Brentford or Newcastle United.
“If you’ve got big occasion players that are playing against proper centre backs- we will see whether Ronaldo is still able to turn the screw at a level that I question he’ll be able to do at.”
The former Juve forward had optimistically sent his first message to the United faithful on Tuesday, sharing images on Instagram, eagerly emphasizing his unbridled desire to win titles for the club again. In the emotional Instagram statement, United’s prodigal son wrote:
“History has been written in the past and history will be written once again! You have my word!”
Very ambitious, big claims indeed.
Ronaldo’s first game back in the all-too-famous red shirt is expected to be the home clash at the Theater of Dreams against Newcastle on September 11. Definitely a most appropriate homecoming match for the club’s most famous sons.
Well, like Simon Jordan said, a United clash against a club like Newcastle shouldn’t pose too much of a challenge for Ronaldo to cope with.