As a fan of Manchester United, I have loved and hated Cristiano Ronaldo, the player who has become the most expensive footballer of all time. He had a great career at United, being one of the most successful players to wear a red shirt, but now, it is clear that there will always be blemishes on his time at OId Trafford.
At the start of his United career, signing from Sporting Lisbon for around £12 million, he looked extremely talented and showed massive promise. Eventually, he exceeded all expectations and developed into an outstanding all round player. Ronaldo struggled early on due to his inexperience, and opposition crowds struggled to respect a player who continuously dived. Many players dive but he was one of, if not, the worst in the Premier League and his reputation was growing in the wrong direction with fans and referees.
Gradually, he grew ever more confident (and/or cockier) and developed parts of his game which he hadn’t previously displayed, like strength on the ball and aerial ability. He seemed to dive less, I know a lot of people will disagree with this statement, but in comparison to his earlier antics, he cleaned up his over reliance on simulation. His reputation as an arrogant player and person was well established amongst opposition fans, and this led to me having to defend him often. The main incident that comes to mind is the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where Rooney was sent off for a stamp on Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho. here were shots of Ronaldo pleading with the referee to send off his club teammate, and after Rooney was given his marching orders, a camera cut to Ronaldo who seemed to be winking to his bench. A lot of people thought that he was suggesting ‘I made that happen’, but if you watch the action properly, you can quite clearly see Rooney stamping on the defender and any referee, well maybe with the exception of Graham Poll, would give that a straight red card. The ‘wink’, and Ronaldo’s talk to the referee, were irrelevant.
After all this, speculation indicated that Real Madrid were coming to test United’s resolve, with rumours that they were going to bid 50m for the young winger. Instead, he denied wanting to leave United and signed a new contract which made him the highest paid player in the team’s history. With this behind him, Ronaldo probably had the best season of his career. He scored 42 goals, whilst helping United to secure the Premier League and Champions League double. That season earned him a spot as one of the best players in the world, alongside the likes of Lionel Messi and Kaká. At this stage, I still loved this man, and believed that he was the driving force that United needed.
Once this season was over, the speculation started again, and my likening for Ronaldo started to decrease. Reports from Sky Sports were suggesting that Ronaldo had expressed an interest in moving to Real Madrid. United filed a complaint to FIFA over the illegal pursuit of Ronaldo, but nothing was done. Ronaldo stated that he would stay for another season and that he was committed to United.
Some say that I should stop complaining about Ronaldo, as he was still our top goal scorer once again this season. I recognise this, but it was the way he was going about it. When he was coming back from an injury at the beginning of last season, he didn’t look like he wanted to play and sulked more than before. Being at Manchester United should be an honour as we are one of the biggest teams and in my opinion (obviously biased) are the best team there is. Ronaldo loves to win trophies and awards for himself, so why not keep winning these things at United. Take Wayne Rooney for example, I believe that Rooney will want to stay the distance at United. This is the sort of loyalty that Ronaldo did not and will not show.
Reports prior to the Champions League final, were suggesting that Ronaldo was already telling the players that he was leaving in the summer. The timing was awful; an awareness that they would be losing their best player in the summer must have affected the confidence of the other players. Not to discredit Barcelona, who totally outplayed United, but I believe these rumours affected them in the final. What made things worse was another report indicating that Ronaldo made a deal with Real Madrid last season, telling them that he would wait one year before coming out and expressing his desire to leave United. This sort of dealing is totally illegal and is essentially worse than tapping up.
Now Ronaldo has signed for Real Madrid, at a cost of £80million, and United have done a great bit of business, making a £68million profit. I now have a substantially decreased liking for Ronaldo, and it has grown from the increasing show of selfishness that occurred over the course of this season. He was a great player for United and I will admit I loved him, but now I couldn’t care less about him. I can now see what other people saw in him when I had my biased view.
I would put some money on United meeting Real Madrid in the Champions League at some point, either in the group stages or in the early rounds. It will be interesting to see how Ronaldo will be greeted at Old Trafford if this scenario occurs.
Robbie Morrison
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