I agree wholeheartedly with this.

He is overrated tbh, Ego driven and is probably a ticking time bomb. We should not forget that this is the most difficult league in the world. Its even harder than during the time he was amazing with us and he is 12 years older now.

I really hope for the best from this. Looks like a shirt company deal. The price is its effect to morale and our wage structure

The thing that really sourced his character as a team player for me is seeing him throw a strop having seen a teammate score rather than pass to him.

You make some excellent points, but you have omitted to mention that he plays on the left, he plays on the right, and that when he runs down the wing, we hear United sing.

In all seriousness, I tend to agree, and I’m just hoping it works out reasonably well.

I scanned through the article to pick out the key points. I will start by saying Cr7 is one of my fave players becuase of his pure desire to be the best.

I agree with everything you said and can add a lot more as to why I think resigning ronaldo is bad. In fact I was saying just as much everytime he had been linked to utd in the last 10 years.

BUT it is not something I can change or control so I will simply focus on the positives about the signing. And with CR7 there is a lot of positives

Excellent post this RR. I can’t really disagree too much with it.

Can't help but agree. I guess unlike you I do feel a connection with Ronaldo as a fan, so there is some excitement about it for me - even though I get he probably doesn't consider us his 'home', I dont doubt that there is some affection on his end that played some part in him wanting to come back.

From a footballing perspective though I can't help but feel we'll be looking back at this in 2 years time as a mistake.

comment by Ole-dirty-baztard - You want ole in, ole out, in, out, in, out, shake it all about. Do the ole Koke-Penited (U19119)
posted 1 minute ago
Excellent post this RR. I can’t really disagree too much with it.
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I agree
While I share a lot of RRs sentiment about the signing I must admit that I couldn't be bothered to address them. Too many fans get sensitive when they think their fave players are being criticised let alone an idol like ronaldo.
I applaud you RR for having the cojones or patience to address something even I couldn't so directly

Very good read

To see Peter schmeichel interviewed about it yesterday you’d be forgiven for thinking we were signing a prime 26 not 36 yr old Ronaldo

I made these points when he was about to join city and was glad we weren't getting him. Now that we have got him I didn't say any of those things and am glad we've got him.

comment by Paul McGinn (U1734)
posted 5 minutes ago
I made these points when he was about to join city and was glad we weren't getting him. Now that we have got him I didn't say any of those things and am glad we've got him.
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I compare cr7 to a very glamorous ex you used to love, who left you in her prime. While I might not neccesarily want her back, I do not want her with my noisy next door neighbour.

He scored 5 more in the league last season than Lukaku, who everybody is hailing as the signing of the summer.

He is a leader and a winner, things we desperately need with our young attack. Look how much better we look with Cavani.

He isn't what he was, but he is still a goalscorer and ticks a lot of boxes.

I appreciate I'm probably in a minority in my views and also that I could be wrong. I'd be interested to read the counter-arguments behind the 1-star votes!

comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 2 minutes ago
He scored 5 more in the league last season than Lukaku, who everybody is hailing as the signing of the summer.

He is a leader and a winner, things we desperately need with our young attack. Look how much better we look with Cavani.

He isn't what he was, but he is still a goalscorer and ticks a lot of boxes.
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Going by that article RR linked he sure does like boxes…

comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 1 minute ago
He scored 5 more in the league last season than Lukaku, who everybody is hailing as the signing of the summer.

He is a leader and a winner, things we desperately need with our young attack. Look how much better we look with Cavani.

He isn't what he was, but he is still a goalscorer and ticks a lot of boxes.
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I get that, and wouldn't be surprised if he scored more goals this season than any individual United player has for a while. I'm interested whether you think there could be any trade offs in terms of the lack of mobility or the tendency to defer to Ronaldo as focal point that could come along with that scoring power?

I didn't realise he was a box to box player

The potential lack of defending/pressing he will do is a concern. As the article highlights, it means added onus on the rest of the team.

Yup.

Great servant for the club and it should have remained that way.

Obviously going to be a few memorable cameos this season from him, but in terms of a proper competitive league campaign, in all honesty, even someone like Jota would have made more difference.

I don't disagree at all yet I'm still excited to have him back I must admit. I am aware of my hypocrisy but I'm comfortable with that. I'd say most football fans are.

i'd be keen to hear from anyone who has actually watched him regularly over the last 2 years, in terms of his mobility etc. he certainly didn't seem to be slow or immobile in the euros, somewhat economical in terms of his movement, but it seems that some are attempting to portray him as a stationary penalty spot poacher, which isn't what i have seen when i have watched him (extremely infrequently admittedly).

if you want a nice little stat that proves nothing at all:

distance covered per 90 minutes in the euros

ronaldo - 9.03 km
mbappe - 8.17 km

comment by Don Draper's dandruff (U20155)
posted 1 minute ago
i'd be keen to hear from anyone who has actually watched him regularly over the last 2 years, in terms of his mobility etc. he certainly didn't seem to be slow or immobile in the euros, somewhat economical in terms of his movement, but it seems that some are attempting to portray him as a stationary penalty spot poacher, which isn't what i have seen when i have watched him (extremely infrequently admittedly).

if you want a nice little stat that proves nothing at all:

distance covered per 90 minutes in the euros

ronaldo - 9.03 km
mbappe - 8.17 km
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Good point, and indeed it would be useful to get more concrete detail when discussing Ronaldo's game and how it would fit into our football. I freely admit I can't provide that sort of close analysis. Before the Euros I followed quite an involved discussion (forgotten where, I'm afraid) about the Portugal team. The panel suggested that Portugal could - whisper it - be stronger with Ronaldo as a plan B from the bench, enabling the multitude of younger talent to play a more fluid and pressing game. Fast forward to the Euros and that didn’t transpire. Ronaldo scored his goals but no one else (apart from Renato Sanches) came away with an enhanced reputation and Portugal overall looked rather less than the sum of their parts. That's what I fear will happen to us.

I have enjoyed the past week. We have all formed our opinions on Ronaldo based on which club he was most likely to join, whilst also admitting to not watching him play.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 43 seconds ago

Portugal overall looked rather less than the sum of their parts. That's what I fear will happen to us.
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the interesting question then is whether "rather less than the sum of their parts" would represent an improvement for this united team

comment by Don Draper's dandruff (U20155)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 43 seconds ago

Portugal overall looked rather less than the sum of their parts. That's what I fear will happen to us.
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the interesting question then is whether "rather less than the sum of their parts" would represent an improvement for this united team
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I wonder if there is a correlation between thinking we're generally moving in the right direction and thinking signing Ronaldo doesn't make sense. If you don't have faith in the plan, maybe chucking a superstar into the team is attractive, even if it isn't consistent with the wider strategy?

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 17 minutes ago
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I wonder if there is a correlation between thinking we're generally moving in the right direction and thinking signing Ronaldo doesn't make sense. If you don't have faith in the plan, maybe chucking a superstar into the team is attractive, even if it isn't consistent with the wider strategy?
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i saw plenty of people, when he was linked with city, suggest that he was the antithesis of a pep player (just as aguero was frequently benched when pep arrived), not interested in the build up phase at all, but simply obsessed with the whole ball in net thingy

it is tempting to think that he is much more an ole player, weaker pressing, less system-driven, but capable of dynamic moments.

which isn't to belittle ole as a tactician, but he's certainly no pep.