The saga between Cristiano Ronaldo on one, and Manchester United on the other side, isn’t stopping. Despite the meetings and negotiations, the rift between the best player in the world and the Red Devils is still far too broad.
Instead of preparing for the new season with his team and planning to win some silverware, Ronaldo has to deal with problems. The Portuguese aim to add at least one more major club trophy, and attack the title in Qatar at the World Cup soccer 2022. The current circumstances are disrupting his plans, and he isn’t willing to lose more time on it.
What are his options at the moment?
Ronaldo stated that he isn’t willing to play for United anymore. The reasons for that are clear, as the Red Devils don’t have a competitive team for winning the English Premier League, and they are in the process of a rebuild. Even though United played well over the recent few weeks, Erik Ten Hag is still putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, and his main goal isn’t to attack the trophies right away but to create the foundations for a long-term project.
As mentioned, Ronaldo wants trophies, and he wants them right away, so staying in Manchester doesn’t make too much sense. He might lose a competitive edge, which is something terrible for him and the Portuguese national team, one of the favorites in Qatar according to the World Cup odds.
In the beginning, there were some talks that he might end up in Bayern or another English Premier team, but that turned out to be just a guess. The team from Munich did lose its best player, striker Robert Lewandowski, though the Germans weren’t willing to land Cristiano, and they publicly dismissed all the possibility of the same.
We saw a similar situation with Atletico Madrid, with the speculations overwhelming the media about Diego Simeone’s desire to sign Ronaldo. They, too, publicly denied any interest.
Coming back to Real Madrid sounds like a logical and possible move. Cristiano was the pivotal piece of their fantastic generation that won three straight UEFA Champions League, four in five years. He is the club icon and one of the most popular players in the history of Los Blancos.
There is no doubt that the fans and the players would be delighted to have him back after a few years of absence. Real is the UEFA Champions League winner for the past campaign, and Carlo Ancelotti’s boys want to defend the crown, which suits Ronaldo’s ambitions perfectly.
Ancelotti and Ronaldo already have one UCL together, back in 2014, when Real beat Atletico Madrid in the finals, winning the first European title after twelve years. It was the birth of the Los Blancos dynasty that ruled the continent and Spain for the years to come.
Ronaldo would have some familiar faces waiting for him at Bernabeu, like Luka Modric, Casemiro, Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema, and others. So when looking at the entire picture, the move back to Real is possible and very logical.
The Word on the Street
There are some media speculations about Ronaldo’s comeback to Sporting, where he would end his career and try to win the Portuguese title with his youth club. Just to remind, Cristiano is Sporting’s child, and he always proudly speaks about his connection and emotions for the former club.
This story sounds unconvincing, just like the following. The media in the United States are mentioning Ronaldo’s possible move there. MLS is increasingly popular among European players, who are heading overseas much more frequently than before. Before, we saw washed-out veterans signing with the American franchises, but as time went by, more and more younger players chose the USA over Europe.
David Beckham wants to make his Inter Miami the next super team; LAFC landed Giorgio Chiellini and Ronaldo’s teammate from Real, Gareth Bale, while LA Galaxy lacks one superstar for a while now.
Still, Ronaldo wants to play in Europe and win major trophies, and it would be pretty surprising to see him choosing the USA at this point. Especially now before the 2022 World Cup.