You just need to see how he performed last season to know he’s going to improve them.
Ron Signs for Scum
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Utd have added £60m to their wage bill this summer to appease bedwetters like Neville. I don't think he fixes Utds real problems and he stops them from signing a player that would. Plus he's long past his best so while they will be absolutely loving this I'm really not that bothered
Wage bill doesn't matter to them. It's not good news, and we're in serious danger of being left behind.
It's happening now. The reality is we've moved to a position where only 5 clubs can afford the top players both in terms of fee and wages. For the rest of us it's a case of signing the players before they become top players.
Nah. He won't be as consistent as he used to be but he's obviously still a top player despite the age, purely because he's a total psychopath. Like a much better Zlatan or LeBron in basketball
My hope is that he completely fucks up the team dynamic. They've built it around Bruno Fernandes who has been terrible whenever I've seen him play for Portugal where he isn't the main man. Greenwood will probably get less games than he should at this stage. Pogba could either fuck off or go on one of his sulks again. And they've still got a shit midfield, Harry Maguire at centre back and Ole at the wheel
I sort of agree.
But what happens when he doesn't get to play all the time/take frees/take penalties. Will he throw a strop or go on a sulk?
Or if he does get to do all those things how disruptive will it be for the rest of the team, as you point out?
Plus he has set a nice benchmark of wages for their next "star" signing to aspire towards.
I watched a fair bit of Serie A last season and it was quite evident that his physique has tailed off. Outpaced, outmuscled and shoved off the ball. His tracking back was also non exsistent.
Saved by his superb finishing and the playing for Juventus.
I’m curious to the step up from Serie A to the Premier League will be for him. Its an even faster, better and stronger league then when he left 12 years ago.
So I tend to agree with those that say he’ll score goals because of his finishing ability, but overall it might be more of a struggle.
Saved by his superb finishing and the playing for Juventus.
I’m curious to the step up from Serie A to the Premier League will be for him. Its an even faster, better and stronger league then when he left 12 years ago.
So I tend to agree with those that say he’ll score goals because of his finishing ability, but overall it might be more of a struggle.
Nah he's gonna score 25 plus
Jonathan Wilson agrees with you:
===========================
Welcome to Unitedland! With an array of nostalgic installations and familiar faces, there’s something for everyone to enjoy! Gawp at the scorer of the winning goal from the 1999 Champions League in his very own technical area! Gaze on the goalscorer from the 2008 Champions League final grazing just outside the penalty area! Even the roof has that retro feel! Season tickets start at just £532.
There was a time when clubs found jobs for former players gladhanding in corporate hospitality. Manchester United have gone much further. With Ole Gunnar Solskjær installed as manager and Cristiano Ronaldo up front, you wonder which other former greats can be brought back to the Old Trafford theme park. Martin Edwards in the boardroom? Gary Bailey back in nets? The toothpick-chewing ghost of Billy Meredith on the wing? A labyrinthodon who once roamed Newton Heath let loose on the shabby concourse?
There is an appeal in bringing back a former great – even one who until lunchtime on Friday seemed perfectly happy to join their cross-city rivals. Equally, there is an appeal in seeing a popular former player dressed in the manager’s suit, even if he does quite often end up looking sad in press conferences.
But that fondness clouds the judgment – as is made clear by all those delighted tweets celebrating the return of the king. It is no different to all those unwilling to contemplate criticising Solskjær on the grounds that outsiders cannot understand what he means to United fans. Perhaps not – although all clubs have their heroes – but that does not make him a good manager. Wishful thinking may bump up the share price, but it never won trophies.
There may even be celebration that United have pinched Ronaldo from City, just as there was when they swooped to prevent Alexis Sánchez moving to the Etihad – and look how that worked out. Ronaldo is so unsuited to City, who seemingly were only ever interested in a free transfer for all their apparent need for a central goalscorer, as to raise the mischievous thought that this has worked out rather well for them, saddling a rival with an ageing player who will drain resources and disrupt tactical development. Call it the Sánchez Protocol.
United’s need is for a central midfielder to link the two halves of the side. They have apparently held back on an attempt to sign Declan Rice for financial reasons having spent £115m in landing Jadon Sancho and Raphaël Varane. So why now is money – £20m fee plus £20m a year salary – suddenly available for a sentimental indulgence?
And what does this mean for Mason Greenwood, who after excelling in the opening game of the season, suddenly finds an additional and expensive obstacle between him and regular first-team football? United’s future is in danger of being blocked by the ghosts of its glorious past.
Three years ago, Juventus paid £100m for a 33-year-old and gave him a basic salary of £26.6m a year, a deal that must rank as one of the worst in history. Ronaldo was signed to take Juventus, who had lost in two Champions League finals in the previous four seasons, to European glory. Instead they lost in the quarter-final to Ajax, then in the last 16 to Lyon, then in the last 16 to Porto.
Juve had won seven scudetti in a row before Ronaldo arrived. They won it again in their first two seasons with him, but finished fourth last year. He scored 81 league goals in three seasons, but Ronaldo made Juventus a worse football team.
Not only has his relative immobility, his reluctance to contribute to the press – he was in the bottom 2% of forwards in Europe’s top five leagues in terms of pressures per 90 minutes last season – held Juve back tactically, but the money spent on him has weakened the rest of the squad. There is a reason Juve were so willing to offload him now.
Ronaldo will, almost certainly, score goals, but goals were not a problem for United. Last season they were the second-top scorers in the Premier League, and scored more than anybody else in their Champions League group, but still finished second. They already have a highly gifted thirtysomething goalscorer in Edinson Cavani. Their problem is constructing the attacking moves that can overwhelm stubborn defences. Ronaldo will not help with that and it is hard to see how he will fit tactically; United have admitted they never expected Juve to sell and so he was not part of their plans.
But Ronaldo is content – more than one million retweets of the confirmation of his signing in the first hour – and elite clubs these days are first and foremost content producers. This is Paul Robinson coming back to Neighbours or Dirty Den returning to EastEnders. It is great for the narrative. There will be heightened interest. Social media engagements will go through the roof. Ed Woodward will get to churn out impressive-sounding numbers on the shareholders’ conference call. Devising and implementing a philosophy is boring. It takes ages.
Put a plan in place now and it could be years before it comes to fruition. Far easier to sign a big name for the immediate dopamine hit that leads to inane talk of winning the transfer market and is why many fans seem more excited by signing players than winning matches. There are those who see Juve’s signing of Ronaldo as indicative of Serie A regaining its mojo; on the contrary, it was emblematic of its decadence, a superclub being lured on to the rocks by the siren call of celebrity.
Celebrity in football is the enemy of coherence and in modern football coherence is what denotes the very best from the rest. Perhaps United fans will simply be happy to be reminded of more successful days, but it is hard to see how Ronaldo takes them any closer to mounting a serious title challenge. Rather this is a whimsical signing that fits the pattern of short-term crowd-pleasing that has characterised much of the eight years since Alex Ferguson retired.
Nothing has been learned and United look doomed to drift on in the shadows of their past greatness.
It’s a very strange one.
One hand he’s the second best player of all time and is still phenomenal in the air and a great finisher with great movement and is impeccably professional. He’ll score lots of goal 20+ and raise the level application in training around him not to mention the influence on young players. Much like Milner for us, it can only be a good thing seeing him push himself everyday to improve.
On the flip, he’s 36 turning 37, has had two years in a slow, less physical league after looking like he was waining in Spain.
It could easily upset the dressing room. What must Sancho and Greenwood be thinking? Cavani is a better no9. He’ll demand free kicks and penos and not sure his teammates will enjoy his complete lack of tracking back when they already have Pogba. Wages surely will be an issue too for the high earners. He won’t want to be benched and will need the team to play a style that suits him.
Definitely a desperate attempt to prevent City getting him and to win a PL or CL in the next 21 months.
One hand he’s the second best player of all time and is still phenomenal in the air and a great finisher with great movement and is impeccably professional. He’ll score lots of goal 20+ and raise the level application in training around him not to mention the influence on young players. Much like Milner for us, it can only be a good thing seeing him push himself everyday to improve.
On the flip, he’s 36 turning 37, has had two years in a slow, less physical league after looking like he was waining in Spain.
It could easily upset the dressing room. What must Sancho and Greenwood be thinking? Cavani is a better no9. He’ll demand free kicks and penos and not sure his teammates will enjoy his complete lack of tracking back when they already have Pogba. Wages surely will be an issue too for the high earners. He won’t want to be benched and will need the team to play a style that suits him.
Definitely a desperate attempt to prevent City getting him and to win a PL or CL in the next 21 months.
get out of here
He scores a lot of goals but he will not help the team. Juves goal scoring stats as below before he joined suggests similar.
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