Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo is still undecided about where to continue his career. The footballer, along with his super agent Jorge Mendes, visited Manchester United’s base and talked to head coach Henrik ten Hag. Sir Alex Ferguson visited at the same time. However, that does not mean that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner will remain at United. Spanish side Atlético Española are among the likely options for his transfer.
A visit to the base
All news outlets exploded on the morning of July 26 with reports that Cristiano Ronaldo would arrive at Manchester United’s base with his agent, the famous Jorge Mendes, to meet with head coach Henrik ten Hag.
The Portuguese superstar has already missed the Red Devils’ pre-season tours to Thailand and Australia. The official reason is said to be “family circumstances”. However, the player was in Portugal all this time and even trained with his native Sporting Lisbon.
It is still unclear how things will develop further, but all summer long rumors have been swirling around Ronaldo’s possible departure from the English club.
- It was reported that the player himself seemed ready to stay at MU after ten Hague’s appointment, despite the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League, but United’s passive transfer campaign has changed the star’s mind.
The new head coach has on several occasions publicly stated that Cristiano is not available for sale and that he himself cannot wait to work with him.
Public statements are public statements, but the seriousness of the Dutch specialist’s intentions was also confirmed by various insiders, who reported that Ten Hague is really ready to integrate the Portuguese into his playing model.
However, it should be done as soon as possible, because at Ajax the coach practiced modern soccer with high pressing, where no player is exempt from this duty, while the 38-year-old Ronaldo has become completely useless in this component over the years.
That said, The Athletic claims that Ronaldo arrived at the base with his agent to inform ten Hague and the club of his desire to leave. And at the same time, it became known that Sir Alex Ferguson, under whose guidance young CriRo became a star of world soccer at MJ, is coming to the base on the same day.
However, it turned out that the legendary Scotsman arrived at the base an hour after the player and not to meet with one of his favorite charges, but to attend the planned meeting of the club’s board, which was scheduled a month ago.
In general, after the events of that day, the future of the main star and top scorer of MJ last season did not become clearer.
Bayern do not want to.
Most of the publications in the media nevertheless point to the player’s desire to leave the team, even if “Metalist” for Ronaldo is a significant and in many ways the home club. Yet the Portuguese has played in the Champions League for so many years in a row that he cannot imagine himself without the tournament, especially when there is not much time left before the end of his career.
Ronaldo and Mendes see a move to Bayern as the best option. The Munich club have lost their perennial sharp-shooter Robert Lewandowski, with no real rivals in the Bundesliga and an excellent chance of winning the Champions League.
Moreover, unlike many others, Bayern could pull off a superstar transfer with all the overhead costs surrounding it. It could, but it doesn’t want to.
“I love Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s a fantastic player, but every club has a philosophy and I’m not sure that for Bayern and the Bundesliga his transfer would be the right signal now. “Such a transfer doesn’t quite fit our ideas,” Munich club general manager Oliver Kahn said bluntly in a recent interview with Christian Falk.
Atletico can’t.
A move for Ronaldo to Atletico Madrid was quite realistic recently. Considering that the Portuguese has rewritten a large number of the club’s records during his time at another club from the Spanish capital, Real Madrid, such a transfer would definitely be a bombshell.
But head coach Diego Simeone likes the Portuguese striker a lot. He has always spoken about him with admiration and is easily ready to integrate him into his soccer.
“Atlético do play in a manner comfortable for the current Ronaldo. The Spurs rarely press, preferring to play on the counterattack against strong opponents, and Cristiano should be a fantastic reinforcement for the team as a target for assists and goalscorer.
The possibility of the transition is indirectly hinted at by the activity of the spouse of the player in social networks – Georgina Rodriguez (who at the time of acquaintance with the Portuguese lived just in Madrid) has signed up for Simeone’s wife.
That’s just that Atletico do not currently have the funds for the deal. Not physically, but in terms of the rules of the Spanish Football Federation. At the moment, the Mariners need to sell players for about €40 million, but there is no way to get rid of Saul Niguez and Alvaro Morata in the first place.
And yet, this option should not be written off. At the very least, it looks far more interesting than a generous offer from the Saudi sheikhs, and more realistic than possible moves to Chelsea, where Thomas Tuchel does not want the player, or to Roma, who also will not be in the Champions League in the new season.