To put it mildly, Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United, the second time around, has not worked out for either side. To be more specific, it just isn’t working for either side, this season. Ronaldo, voted a few years ago by the club’s supporters to be the best team’s best player of the Premier League era, led the side in scoring last season.
But this past summer he staged a bitter holdout to try and force a move to another club. His agent couldn’t get him a move to any club that he actually wanted to join, and that includes Chelsea, who United visits on Saturday on for a Premier League fixture. None of the big clubs that could afford Ronaldo actually wanted him, and thus he’s stuck at Old Trafford for the time being. But things turned very ugly yesterday.
Manchester United at Chelsea FYIs
Kick: Sat Oct. 22, 5:30, Stamford Bridge
Starting XI Predictions: Chelsea Manchester United
Team News: Chelsea Manchester United
After Extra Time Pod: Spotify Apple Podcasts
Google Result Probability: Chelsea win 46% Draw 26% Manchester United 28%
PL Standing, Form Guide: Chelsea 4th, 20 pts, DWWWW Manchester United 5th, 19 pts, WDWLW
Ronaldo, an unused substitute, headed down the tunnel at Old Trafford long before the final whistle. According to multiple reports, he actually even exited the ground before the match was completed. Obviously, this is extremely unacceptable, on numerous levels. It doesn’t matter who you are, or your stature at the club- this is ridiculous. United manager Erik ten Hag says he’ll deal with the situation today (Thursday).
“I don’t pay attention [to that] today, we will deal with that tomorrow,” Ten Hag said yesterday, in the post match press conference when asked about Ronaldo’s leaving the bench before time expired.
“The focus today was on a magnificent performance from all the 11 players. I have to correct myself, not just 11 players but the substitutes who came on, it was a squad performance. We deal with that [Ronaldo] tomorrow. What we see today is 11 players who defend and 11 who attack.”
Blatant coachspeak right there, but what else can you do in that situation? Maybe Ronaldo will be suspended, by the club, for a couple games? Surely, they need to negotiate an exit come January. He’s not producing goals right now, when called upon, and he isn’t called upon much because he’s a mere squad player right now.
Elsewhere Mason Greenwood remains suspended indefinitely by the club, but this week brought a lot of news in regards to his situation. This past weekend, he breeched his bail which then found him remanded into custody, until his next court date in late November. This was decided during his mandated court appearance on Monday.
Until then yesterday, during a private hearing, Greenwood was freed on bail, subject to his fulfilling certain stipulations.
It’s all a mess and it’s quite likely he never plays for United again. Mason Greenwood and Cristiano Ronaldo are both alike in that they are United forwards who have been publicly accused, in very high profile court cases, of raping a woman.
Not going to speculate either way on guilt or innocence, as that’s for the courts to decide. With Ronaldo, it appears it has already settled, or soon will be, and in his favor.
However, I will say, from a football perspective, I think it is strongly in the best interests of United and their supporters that the club moves from both of them as soon as they can.
They’re both distractions, and at this point they’re just impeding Ten Hag’s rebuilding project.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.