The summer period for additional applications in 2021 has become one of the richest in recent years. Lionel Messi was unable to renew his contract with Barcelona and moved to Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea acquired Romelu Lukaku and set a club record for the transfer amount, and Kilian Mbappe could soon fulfill his dream and go to Real Madrid ... And as if envious of the attention to his colleagues, Cristiano Ronaldo provoked his departure from Juventus and made one of the most high-profile comebacks in the history of football, signing a contract with Manchester United.
Surprisingly, over the past week it has been said that Ronaldo will join another team from Manchester - City. And although this step of the Portuguese looked more than interesting and carried a lot of intrigue, from an image point of view, such a development of events did not look the most logical. Still, Cristiano has a lot to do with United, and his move to the camp of his worst enemy would be extremely negatively perceived by the fans. And this was quickly confirmed when videos of fans burning Red Devils T-shirts bearing the forward's name appeared on the Internet.
Of course, in terms of attracting attention, the transfer to Manchester City promised to be much more interesting. Yes, Ronaldo was at the center of a scandal, but he got a chance to become part of Josep Guardiola's super successful team. On paper, the prospects for their joint work seemed rather vague, but watching the process of his adaptation to the team and vice versa would be extremely interesting. The Spanish coach would have had to change a lot to try to build the Portuguese into his tactical scheme, and chances are high that he would fail in the end. Cristiano would probably be the ideal addressee for Kevin De Bruyne's homing canopies, but in terms of working without the ball and interacting with partners during positional attacks, it would hardly look organic.
At the moment, there is no understanding why the transition to the camp of the reigning champions of England fell through. Perhaps Ronaldo himself did not want to be branded a traitor and hear the whistle of his once native fans. Or the City management weighed all the pros and cons, considering that the Portuguese would rather harm the team and destroy all Guardiola's many years of work than make it stronger. Perhaps Pep's statements also had an impact. Commenting on the possible acquisition of Cristiano, he did not seem particularly inspired by this event, and his negative attitude was read between the lines. It was noticeable both in his mood and in his words. In particular, the Spaniard said that he was more than satisfied with the current selection of players.
It is possible that one of the key roles in the purchase of Ronaldo was played by the former and current head coaches of Manchester United. According to The Athletic, Sir Alex Ferguson and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer contributed to his return to the club. Hearing about the possible transfer of Cristiano to City, the first contacted the striker himself, and the second - with the executive director of the Red Devils, Ed Woodward. As a result, the Mankunians intercepted the owner of five Ballon d'Or from competitors.
If you believe the English edition, then Solskjaer expressed a great interest in signing Ronaldo. According to the Norwegian, his transfer to City could have negative consequences for United and cause serious damage to the club in terms of image. The only question is whether the specialist has thought about how exactly he is going to embed the Portuguese into his own team and whether he meets its needs. Indeed, until now, the "red devils" clearly did not count on such a development of events.
So far, Ronaldo's prospects at United seem to be no less dim than in another team from Manchester. At the moment, Solskjaer uses a 4-2-3-1 formation, and Bruna Fernandes and Paul Pogba have guaranteed places among the attacking players. Moreover, the latter takes a place on the left flank - exactly where Cristiano is used to acting. This is where the first conflict of interest arises, which the head coach will have to deal with.
Based on this situation, Solskjaer will either have to look for a new place for Pogba, or put Ronaldo as a center striker. But there are several snags at once. Taking into account the current scheme, the Frenchman can either go to the opposite flank or retrain as a defensive player - not the best decision, given that the midfielder himself does not like to be located in this position. And although Ronaldo has amazing finishing skills, he rarely plays the role of the only forward. He agreed to this in the Portuguese national team, but not in Real Madrid and Juventus. In a scheme with three forwards, he preferred to be on the left and only then move into the penalty area, and with two - to attack from the depths.
Given the fact that Ronaldo's position as a left winger actually puts Pogba in an uncomfortable situation, one of the preferable ones is the option with two centers in a 4-3-1-2 formation. Last season, Solskjaer resorted to this formation several times, but this decision was not always successful. If Southampton managed to beat (3: 2), then Arsenal did not (0: 1). In both cases, the pair turned out to be Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood, the first of whom moved from the left flank to the center in Cristiano's signature style. It is possible that the Norwegian will try again to use this approach.
In this context, it is extremely interesting how Solskjaer will reformat the current Manchester United, and whether the desire to take Ronaldo away from his competitors sideways will not work. Based on the above, it becomes clear that the mentor has a lot of work to do, and whether it will be possible to complete it in the shortest possible time is a big question. In recent years, many coaches have not been able to solve Cristiano's problem, and much more experienced. Neither Massimiliano Allegri nor Maurizio Sarri coped with it, and only Zinedine Zidane achieved success. But it is necessary to understand that the Frenchman, if he did not come to everything ready, could use the developments of both Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti. He also had an excellent selection of performers capable of compensating for the Portuguese's shortcomings in pressing.
Ronaldo's transition definitely makes Manchester United a less flexible team and, possibly, provokes the departure of several players from it. The future at the Edinson Cavani club is in doubt, the playing time of Rashford, Greenwood and Anthony Martial is at risk of sharply reducing, and the presence of Odion Ighalo and a number of young players is completely meaningless. In addition, very unexpectedly, rumors arose in the press about the possible departure of Pogba. According to Marca, the reigning world champion does not intend to renew the contract with the "Red Devils" and wants to transfer to Real Madrid. And while it is difficult to understand what is the reason for this in the first place - the acquisition of Cristiano or the possible move of Kilian Mbappe to Madrid.
With all this in mind, United's prospects for the new season should be viewed with extreme caution. Yes, in the last championship, the team took second place and showed significant progress, but the perturbations caused by the signing of Ronaldo can upset the balance that Solskjaer had been striving for for a long time. Of course, in Manchester, the Portuguese will be surrounded by much more talented partners and will have a better chance of doing what he does best - top up the scorer. But it is a big question whether there will be violations in the structure of the team's game and "fading" of the current leaders. Everyone remembers how lost Paulo Dybala in Turin and how impersonal Fernandes looked at the Euro in the company of his compatriot. And only time will tell if something like this will happen now. And if Ole Gunnar really played such an important role in this transition,some of the blame will be on him.