Manchester United are adopting a rigid do-not-approach stance over Cristiano Ronaldo following revelations, unsurprisingly, he is anxious to leave Old Trafford this summer, but in all honesty the club are probably better off reconsidering their approach to the dilemma.<\/p>\n
After all, it\u2019s always been all about him from the get-go. Always has been and always will be. Let\u2019s not forget that it was the Portuguese sensation himself who had previously claimed his motivation stems primarily from overcoming difficulty and that he relished the challenge of making his homecoming to Old Trafford to stand by and fight for his old beloved Manchester United to champion the charge of leading them out of the doldrums they had fallen into.<\/p>\n
Sadly, as his supposedly beloved club continues to be lost in limbo, it suddenly looks like the self-proclaimed savior is chirping a different tune and is bailing ship. Which brings to recall that old adage \u2013 when the going gets tough, the tough get going? Well, \u2018going\u2019 seems to be the operative word here as it seems Ronaldo has taken that quite literally and laid that \u2018request\u2019 on the table before the club\u2019s bosses.<\/p>\n
Instead of being true to his own self-professed words of being the man to inspire United to a return to the glory days of yesteryear, glory days the 37-year-old himself was an integral part of, the Portuguese striker has made a formal request to leave Old Trafford this summer. The great Ronaldo seems intent on reneging on his own words and his responsibility as he contradicts his own challenge-craving claims.<\/p>\n
Back in 2019, a year after ending his long itch and nine-year love affair with Real Madrid\u00a0\u00a0by signing for Juventus, Ronaldo affirmed on TVI<\/em> how he “certainly loves challenges”. However, just two years on from his declaration of how he craves challenges, the striker left Juventus in the ditch at the first sign of trouble, having failed to fire their Champions League aspirations for which they had hired him to achieve.<\/p>\n Then desperate to move on to salvage his reputation, he turned to the limping, injured Manchester United as his saving grace and dug into his bag of old tricks, again proclaiming his love for challenges, asserting this time he was ready to embark on arguably the greatest challenge of his illustrious career in helping restore United’s status as one of football’s most formidable forces. As such, the iconic striker\u2019s sensational Old Trafford homecoming was gloriously sealed, setting ablaze the wildest hopes in the hearts of the club’s fans.<\/p>\n In their hour of need, Ronaldo returned \u2013 or so it seemed then. While no one would ever dare doubt his ability to score goals, even at 37 years of age and moving on, it was more his resolve to stay put instead of constantly scanning the horizon for greener pastures in his final years.<\/p>\n It seems Ronaldo doesn’t intend to stick around to inspire a United comeback after all. In hindsight, it was remiss of the Red Devils to ignore the same warning signs that had been flickering at Juventus when they finally discovered he couldn\u2019t deliver the goods at the highest level of European football, the Champions League.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, and probably in sheer desperation, United appear adamant in standing by their not-for-sale stance, but perhaps it is best for all parties that they part ways with the club legend as he\u2019s clearly not prepared to dig trenches with Erik ten Hag so why it would be an absolute waste of resources and energy trying to convince him to hang around for the fight when he\u2019s clearly given up on that, and not just lately only, for that matter?<\/p>\n Ronaldo’s self-serving request shows he doesn’t aspire to overcome challenges after all as his insatiable appetite for Champions League\u00a0football and individual accolades is evidently a greater priority.<\/p>\n Pertinently, the player contradicted his own challenge-loving claims a matter of minutes after making them in that in-depth interview back in 2019. Moments after his noble declaration, Ronaldo also admitted he is “obsessed with success”. Totally contrasting statements, to say the least.<\/p>\n With United unable to offer both, the Portuguese superstar has made his choice, one dictated by his incessant need for success, which will always supersede his appetite for adventure with the right sporting spirit. And that’s exactly why United must sacrifice sentimentality and move on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"