Cristiano Ronaldo exit ‘a blessing in disguise’ for Manchester United

Simon Jordan believes Cristiano Ronaldo should be allowed to leave Manchester United this summer given that he’s a ‘luxury’ the club can’t afford.

The 37-year-old shocked supporters over the weekend after reports in The Times revealed he wants to leave Old Trafford this summer as he goes in search of Champions League football.

Getty

getty

While talkSPORT understands that the Red Devils are adamant that he won’t be leaving with one year left on his contract, his absence from training on Monday due to ‘family reasons’ has added fuel to the fire as his future becomes a huge topic of conversation.

Ronaldo scored 24 goals last term and would undoubtedly be a huge loss for Erik ten Hag’s side, but Jordan believes that any move away must be right for the club if it’s to be sanctioned.

Speaking on White and Jordan, he said: “It’s a very difficult one because Ronaldo operates in a space and a place that sort of transcends the football clubs that he plays for. I don’t just mean on the pitch, but the whole scrum of interest.

“While we have to take it at face value that he’s not at the football club this morning because of family reasons, it may well also be because there will be a media scrum outside of Carrington because he’s made an announcement that he wants to leave.

“It’s his gift if he wants to leave the club and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. There’s no doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo is going to score goals because the last thing to go on a boxer is his punch.

“He will score goals but when you’re trying to compete with sides in a way to try and overtake them you need to have more possession, and you need to be more effective across the entire 11 players. Not just one player banging them in every now and again, scoring goals to win games and getting hat-tricks against Norwich who, with the greatest respect in the world, are not particularly important.

Getty

Getty

“Ronaldo came back in a fanfare and people put it down to a [Ed] Woodward vanity play. I’m not quite sure of the logic of that because it had the potential to go wrong.

“I don’t think that Ronaldo, other than being a media focus and fulcrum for interest because of what he’s done and will continue to do, is a loss to Man United rebuilding if he goes.”

Jordan continued: “If they seriously want to compete at the top end of this division they need someone alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Let’s get it right, Ronaldo is a wonderful addition to a team that’s in decent nick, but United are wrong all over the place.

The Sun

“Ronaldo just sort of compounds the problem because there’s a certain style of play that wins leagues and it’s based upon possession, hard work and pressing.

“If United are going to bridge that gap then they don’t have the luxury of a player like Ronaldo who will score you goals, but there’s a cause and effect. The effect is that the other parts of the team have to be functioning really well for Ronaldo to be an asset.

“Because they’re wrong all over the place, it compounds the problem of Ronaldo not being able to press and work hard and do things that other top sides can do with their top players.”

Asked if Ronaldo is wrong for wanting to leave, Jordan said: “No, if he wants to go then he should go.

AFP

“It’s within his gift to say he wants to go, but what Man United do with it is their gift.

“United signed him and paid him big wages and I imagine there’s a consequence to this situation in that they can offload some of the wages and invest that in a far more compelling proposition for the future of Manchester United.

“It’s only player power if the club acquiesce to it. He can say what he wants, he can say he wants to do a dance of the seven veils, but if they say he can’t do that, he’ll end up doing what he’s told in the end.

“The bottom line is that if you’re Manchester United you say ‘okay, this is how you feel but this has got to work for Manchester United’.

getty

“If it works for Manchester United then you can go, if it doesn’t then stay you will.”

Danny Murphy also weighed in on the debate, and asked if he think Ronaldo will play for United again, he said: “What my key question is about who they bring in instead of him.

“If they let him go without replacing him, which would be ridiculous, then obviously they can’t let him go if they’ve got nobody in mind who can come in and score a decent amount of goals.

“They’ve got to get someone in who is experienced enough and good enough to lead the line for Manchester United.

“24 goals is a lot to replace and they haven’t got an abundance of players who are chipping in with more than double figures, I mean the next best was Bruno Fernandes with 10.

“I wouldn’t be letting Ronaldo go until you get someone through the door.”

Murphy continued: “Ultimately, I think it’s a blessing in disguise.”

“I do too,” added Jordan.