Did Ronaldo make a mistake re-joining United?

Whilst the way the relationship ended with bitterness and recriminations on both sides after Ronaldo’s explosive interview with the British TV journalist, the easy answer is yes.

However, when he re-joined the club back in August 2021, after 12 years away, it was not pre-ordained that things would end that way.

After all, the club had finished second in the Premier League the previous season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and had been beaten in the final of the UEFA Cup. That suggested that they were a team on the up, and that the addition of a top-class striker like Ronaldo would make all the difference in converting them into trophy winners.

It was also a club that he thought that he knew, having left it a Ballon d’Or and Champions League winner. The United fans loved him, and his return was acclaimed by nearly all of them.

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What could go wrong?

In retrospect, the achievements of the 2020/2021 season, which was largely played without crowds in the stadiums, was very much a highwater mark as far as Solskjaer was concerned, and served to disguise the underlying problems at the club.

Once a few bad results came along, Solskjaer was gone, and United then chose to go down the interim management route for the rest of the season, rather than immediately seek a permanent replacement.

This was a mistake, and, under Ralf Rangnick, the club was allowed to drift, and Ronaldo with it, along with many of his teammates. He did still finish as the top scorer in his first season back, but that was largely lost in the overwhelming sea of mediocrity.

Erik ten Hag was eventually poached from Ajax to take charge, but Ronaldo spent most of the summer following his appointment trying to engineer a move to another club.

Arguably it was not the fact that he no longer recognised the club that was the problem, but that it was too familiar to him. In his words very little had changed since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson and the training ground, facilities and approach were all out-dated.

Perhaps he and his agent should have done their due diligence better, but it is easy to understand why the player might have retained an affectionate attachment to Old Trafford.

It was also not foreseen that Ronaldo would eventually end up working under Ten Hag, a manager whose style is all about pressing from the front and whose remit, in part, was to impose some structure and discipline on the club.

It was almost inevitable that the two would clash, and that United, having made the investment in the Dutchman, would support him over their ageing Portuguese.

Ronaldo did make a mistake going back, but the fact that his return did not pan out was, in part, due to the circumstances.

The question can also be turned on head. Did United make a mistake re-signing Ronaldo? Given that he almost joined neighbours Manchester City, Pep Guardiola may consider that he had a lucky escape.