One last dance? You bet


Words cannot explain how this summer’s transfer window has gone. The moment you think you have seen it all, something comes up and trumps it. I’m still trying to process what is arguably the biggest and most unexpected deal of the summer so far; Cristiano Ronaldo returning to Manchester United.



As at Friday morning, Ronaldo was on his way to Manchester City but in a very drastic turn of events, Manchester United ‘hijacked’ the deal, with help from Sir Alex Ferguson, Rio Ferdinand and Bruno Fernandes, signing the Portuguese forward in less than 5 hours. I haven’t seen United do business this fast in my life.

 

As expected, there is a lot of talk about this deal, did United just sign him up to prevent City from having him?  what are the short and long term effects of this deal for united? how does it impact the current group of players at United? I would go into these in a bit more detail.

Now, first things first, I do not think any club in its right senses passes up a deal to sign Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi if they can afford it. At a ‘decline’, they are still two of the best around. For Manchester United though, the message initially was clear, the club had other areas to strengthen so he wasn’t a priority and rightly so. However, I believe the news that he could move to rivals Manchester City forced their hand (take a bow, Jorge Mendes). This of course set up the perfect homecoming.

From a financial standpoint, the Glazers are big winners. Ronaldo cost £15m potentially rising to £20m with add ons and he’ll be earning a reported £480,000 per week. Now, within hours of his signing, Manchester United’s share price went up by 8% adding about $250 million in market cap to the stock. Insane numbers and this is just the beginning. When two big brands link up, a lot of money is going to be made.

On the field of play, there are a lot of positives for Manchester United. Number one thing is that this is Cristiano Ronaldo we’re talking about here. 5 time UCL and Balon d’or winning Ronaldo. A mentality monster, proper goalscorer and serial winner. Nothing fazes this man and he has shown it times without number. Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer are at a critical point where excuses would not fly anymore if a trophy isn’t delivered. There is no bigger way to boost team morale than this. From posts of the players on social media, it is clear they are buzzing and an already good atmosphere just got a notch higher,

One reason why I am particularly happy about this deal is that it gives United a much needed aerial presence in attack. The current set of attackers at Manchester United, Edinson Cavani aside, are poor headers of the ball. Cristiano Ronaldo is a beast in this area. People call it route one football but when the chips are down, it’s good to know we can always resort to cross and insha'Allah. Cross and Insha ‘Allah aside, Bruno, Pogba, Rashford and Sancho behind Ronaldo looks so good.

There’s talk regarding how this move would affect United’s young attacking players and I think those concerns are unnecessary. Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract is for two years and by the time he leaves, this would be the ages of our attackers: Rashford 25, Greenwood 21, Sancho 23, Amad 21, Pellistri 22. Scary hours if you ask me.  The only player I pity right now is my boy, Martial. It’s not looking good for him short term and long term but fingers crossed. Whatever happens, the game is the game.

So what can possibly go wrong?

 It’s a large squad with big names and Ole has his man-management work cut out. He hasn’t particularly handled it well so far (Van de Beek) but it’s still early days. Rotation is necessary and he would need to have everything on lock and keep everyone fresh.

Manchester United have still not gotten a defensive midfielder. I repeat, Manchester United have still not gotten a defensive midfielder. There are no excuses for United not to compete for and win titles now with all these signings but real ones know that it would be a gargantuan task to pull off with McFred and Uncle Matic. The transfer window isn’t over so hopefully with some outgoings we get a midfielder in. Declan Rice looks farfetched right now. So, Neves, Camavinga or Saul.

Overall, the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo takes United to a whole new level and of course with this comes greater expectations. I know I'm reaching but this could however be that signing that finally delivers 21 or 4.

 

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