Just over a year ago, fans celebrated the news of Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United
On August 27, 2021, Manchester United confirmed the return of their prodigal son.
A little over 12 months later, United’s relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo has changed beyond recognition. And Erik ten Hag has to be very careful with it.
On September 1 at the King Power Stadium, the 37-year-old started on the bench and came on as a substitute in the final 22 minutes in Leicester’s 1-0 win.
His most important contribution was an acrobatic overhead kick that bounced wide of the far post.
The brilliant Portuguese has failed to score or assist in five appearances so far this season.
It shouldn’t be like that.
Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford followed days of intense speculation, initially over a move to Manchester City, before United expressed interest and Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to the player, who considers the Scot his footballing father.
The tweet, in which United announced “Welcome home Cristiano”, was liked 1.9 million times. The club added another million followers on Instagram within two hours of announcing the signing.
Two days later, United Wolves beat away. Two weeks later, amid joyful scenes from his arrival at Old Trafford to his departure, Ronaldo scored twice on his debut the 4-1 win over Newcastle propelled his new club to the top of the Premier League.
Ronaldo made a dream return for Manchester United, scoring twice against Newcastle at Old Trafford
But before Ronaldo’s return, there were red flags. And not long after, some were wondering if United had done the right thing.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did not start the 2021/22 season with the perfect squad. But he was beginning to get closer to his ideal team.
Jadon Sancho had been brought in as the wide, attacking player he was longing for. Weeks of convincing Edinson Cavani to stay at Old Trafford came to fruition in May when the Uruguayan signed a one-year extension.
Raphael Varane had joined from Real Madrid to become the youngest defender to attempt to secure United’s leaky defence, although some have questioned whether he is actually the leader given the time he has spent with Madrid captain Sergio Ramos was they needed.
Wanted defensive midfielder Solskjaer hasn’t been delivered but not even City’s Pep Guardiola is getting everything he wants.
Ronaldo’s arrival changed the whole dynamic. His only effective position might be number nine. In one fell swoop, this significantly reduced the number of games Cavani was likely to play, not to mention the Uruguayan having to give up his shirt number.
For someone who would have moved away without Solskjaer’s intervention, it was a humbling experience. No wonder his contribution was inconsistent last season.
It also meant Mason Greenwood, United’s other ‘number nine’, was placed in a wide position to compete with Sancho. By the time Greenwood became unavailable for selection due to off-field problems, he had started 16 Premier League games compared to Sancho’s 10.
Ronaldo couldn’t play the high-paced game Solskjaer wanted to introduce, so a compromise in playing style was made.
Solskjaer had a plan to occasionally leave Ronaldo out of his team. However, when he first did so, on October 2 against Everton, the debate over the move was immense, despite it being just three days into a Champions League away game.
The Norwegian afterwards said he had to ‘pick the right moments’ to use Ronaldo. After that, he started in all seven games until Solskjaer was sacked on November 21.
Ronaldo was rarely rested by Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
The only times he stayed on the bench for the remainder of the Premier League season were at Chelsea on November 28, when Michael Carrick made the decision, and at Burnley on February 8.
Ronaldo’s performance at Turf Moor was marred by the fact that he ignored the crowd after the final whistle and went straight to the United dressing room at the other end of the pitch.
On April 18, Ronaldo and his girlfriend announced the death of their baby boy. Ronaldo played – and scored – against Arsenal the following weekend after missing out on the 4-0 defeat at Liverpool. On 7 May United were beaten 4-0 in Brighton to end any hope of qualifying for this year’s Champions League.
As a result, Ronaldo missed last season’s final game through injury and personal reasons for United’s pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia. When he appeared in the friendly with Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford on 31 July, his desire to move away from United was well known.
The reasons, it was found, were career-related. He still wants to fight for big honors. The opportunity to do so at United was a mirage.
But the expected offers never came. There was one from Saudi Arabia, but it was rejected. The latest rumors concerned Atletico Madrid, Napoli and Ronaldo’s first professional sports club, Sporting Lisbon. But when the deadline ended in Europe’s major leagues, Ronaldo remained at United, his own status weakening significantly from when he returned.
That Ronaldo has been on the bench for more Premier League games this season than all of last and there has been little grumbling from opponents tells his own story.
Ten Hag is in a far stronger position to deal with the five-time Ballon D’Or winner than either Solskjaer or his provisional replacement Ralf Rangnick were.
Solskjaer publicly declared his support for Ronaldo’s return. But really, he had no choice.
It was felt by those in power at United that the thought of Ronaldo playing for Manchester City was too much to accept. Even at his age, the combination of the former Real Madrid player’s performance – he had finished last season as top scorer in Serie A – and commercial appeal was irresistible.
It never came to be but chances are his concerns would have been ignored had Solskjaer contested the transfer.
Ten Hag is in a completely different position. Instead of the Dutchman finding a system that fits Ronaldo, Ronaldo has to fit his. If by the World Cup that means he comes on as a substitute and starts games in the Europa League, which the 37-year-old has never played in, then so be it.
Cristiano Ronaldo is on the bench under new coach Erik Ten Hag
Chances are Ten Hag will be more subtle in handling the situation.
Asked after the Leicester game if it was possible for one of the greatest players of all time to be reduced to support player status, Ten Hag replied: “It’s really early in the season and we have a squad. We have more than 11 regular players, you can see that now, players who are now on the bench can play in one, two or three weeks.”
Ten Hag also needs to work to lift Ronaldo’s spirits. While ` Sport were told only the player’s departure could completely eradicate the negativity that surrounded the club, the words were uttered in the belief a parting of ways was possible. Ultimately that didn’t happen.
Efforts to clear Ronaldo of any blame for last season’s disastrous end have been dismissed by United sources. But the truth is, still no one can really know if Ronaldo was the reason United weren’t even worse than last season or if he was one of the main reasons for their poor form.
However, now Ronaldo has to prove himself for the first time since arriving at Old Trafford as a teenager.
Can he be a team player, which due to his individual brilliance meant that he never had to worry about too much for too long?
Can he keep up the facade of supporting his teammates from the bench?
At 37, can Ronaldo score again for a side that pride themselves on putting opponents under pressure?
It’s 10 weeks until the Premier League is paused for the World Cup. It only starts again on December 26, a week before the transfer window opens in January.
Most people, probably including the man himself, did not expect Ronaldo to spend this time as a Manchester United player.
How he deals with it will be interesting.
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