premier league
The Funchal star becomes a free agent after terminating his contract with the Red Devils and is looking for suitors
Two days after the start of what will be his fifth World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo is back in the headlines. Manchester United has announced that it has reached an agreement with the Portuguese star for his departure, thus resolving what was an untenable situation for weeks. “Cristiano Ronaldo will leave Manchester United by mutual agreement, effective immediately. The club thanks him for his immense contribution during two spells at Old Trafford, scoring 145 goals in 346 appearances, and wishes him and his family the best for the future,” said the statement issued by the Mancunian entity in the afternoon this Tuesday. “Everyone at Manchester United remains focused on continuing the team’s progress under Erik ten Hag and working together to achieve success on the field,” adds the cold note released by the owners of Old Trafford.
The second stage of Cristiano Ronaldo ends with a stormy divorce that became the only possible way out since the star attacked the Manchester United board of directors, his until now Dutch coach and several of his teammates in an interview with journalist Piers Morgan. The volley of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner stirred up the upper echelons of Manchester United and burned any chance of a settlement for a soap opera that began in the summer, when Ten Hag relegated the Portuguese attacker to the bench.
A secondary role that was a full-fledged slap in the face for the ego of Cristiano Ronaldo, a footballer used to being the center of gravity in all the clubs he played for and who, at 37, refuses to abandon his status.
The bitter confrontation between Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United had an impact on the bad start to the season by the Red Devils. The Glazers, owners of the club, threw themselves into the arms of Ten Hag in the hope that the successful manager of Ajax Amsterdam would put an end to the long journey through the desert of a club that was three times European champions, but that It plummeted after Sir Alex Ferguson left the bench he held for more than two decades and from which he catapulted United to the elite of the Old Continent. But Ten Hag and Cristiano Ronaldo collided from the first moment.
The Dutch coach considered that Cristiano Ronaldo should step aside and assume his status as a revulsion, something that the star from Madeira was not willing to assume. «I have no respect for him because he does not respect me. If you don’t have respect for me, I will never have respect for you,” Cristiano Ronaldo asserted in the volcanic interview with Piers Morgan when he had to refer to his relationship with Ten Hag.
But the Portuguese went further and also aimed against other levels of the club. “I feel betrayed, they have made me the black sheep,” said a footballer who did not feel supported by the club after one of the babies he was expecting with his partner, Georgina Rodríguez, died prematurely and the other suffered an illness that led to his hospitalization. “I had a very bad preseason. I had some problems on vacation, where one of my children had bronchitis. I was in Majorca and had to spend a week in the hospital. People made up stories that I wanted to travel. People need to realize that I am a human being and I want to be with my family. I am a human being and I went through difficult times. I spoke to the director and president of United and they kind of didn’t believe something was going on. I will never trade my family’s health for soccer. Never. That really hurt me. They doubted my words. We spent a week in the hospital because of Bella’s problems. I didn’t go to preseason because of that. It was not fair to leave my family to do the preseason », he explained.
Newcastle sounds
Cristiano Ronaldo has affected Manchester United’s sports policy in recent years. “I have not seen evolution in the club since Sir (Ferguson) left, the progression has been zero,” he analyzed in an interview in which he criticized the choice of the German Ralf Rangnick as head honcho of that plot. “If you’re not even a manager, how are you going to be the boss of Manchester United? I hadn’t even heard of him,’ said a star who also complained about the lack of ambition of some of United’s young talents, who he felt should follow his example.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s crack dynamited all the bridges and Manchester United began to work on his departure, considering that he was a drag on the Ten Hag project. But the bad atmosphere also extended to the Portuguese team, whose preparation for the World Cup in Qatar was overshadowed by the all-out war against United by the all-time top gunner of the ‘Quinas’. The cold greeting with his partner Bruno Fernandez and another disagreement with Cancelo gave a good account of the enormous problem that Fernando Santos had on his hands.
The agreement reached between Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo for the departure of this club of which he was the flag in his first stage and which served as a catapult towards a definitively established stardom with the four Champions he won with Real Madrid, closes this front but it opens another with which the Portuguese team will now have to live, such as the future of the Madeira star. The British press is already pointing to Newcastle as a possible destination for a footballer who becomes a free agent from this very Tuesday and who, therefore, could sign for any club, although he will not be able to be registered until the opening of the winter transfer window on next January 2.
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