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Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that it was a mistake to re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus in 2021.
United completed a fairytale comeback for Ronaldo, who had initially departed Old Trafford to join Real Madrid in 2009 for a then-world-record fee of £80million.
Ronaldo’s time in Spain was an extremely successful one, as he won two La Liga titles, four Champions League trophies and added four more Ballon d’Or awards to the one he had already collected at United.
After his time at the Santiago Bernabeu, he moved to Juventus. It’s from Turin that Ronaldo sealed an emotional return to United.
His move to the Red Devils saw him reunited with former teammate Solskjaer. However, Solskjaer’s sacking in November 2021 saw Ronaldo’s fortunes at United drastically deteriorate, especially under new boss Erik ten Hag, who demonstrated a clear preference for other options in attack.
Ronaldo’s relationship with Ten Hag became increasingly strained and culminated in the Portugal national team captain granting a controversial interview to British broadcaster Piers Morgan. In the tell-all sitdown, the 39-year-old blasted Ten Hag as he accused him of disrespecting him.
The player also claimed United had betrayed him as he even took a swipe at his own teammates. Unsurprisingly, his contract was mutually terminated days later and he ended up signing for Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Nassr.
Speaking at the Oslo Business Forum (via Sky Sports), Solskjaer admitted that the decision to bring Ronaldo back was a mistake. The Norwegian also revealed that United were wary of letting Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City land Ronaldo.
Solskjaer said, “Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best players in the world the last 15 years. I played with him. He played for Manchester United.”
“He has history with the club and he’s leaving Juventus but we can not give him to Manchester City because he will score more goals than Erling Haaland is doing at the moment probably.”
“So I speak to Cristiano. We get him to Man United but I think maybe that affected the whole dressing room, the dynamic in the dressing room.”
“Maybe other players felt less important because of course this is one of the world superstars that comes in.”
Solskjaer added, “He did well. He was top scorer that year, scored 24 goals or something, but I was out of the job 10 weeks later!”
🗣️ “Maybe other players felt less important”
Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes that in hindsight, signing Cristiano Ronaldo may have been a mistake during his time at the club 🔴 pic.twitter.com/LnKQ36KEcx
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 27, 2024
Meanwhile, Solskjaer has yet to return to football management but he recently made it clear that he would welcome the possibility of taking over the reins at United once more.
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