Cristiano Ronaldo has been told he should have quit Manchester United this summer - to link up with Lionel Messi at Paris St-Germain!
Ronaldo's future was in doubt when his agent offered him to Chelsea recently but United boss Erik ten Hag wants the Portugal superstar in his team next season. Yet that hasn't stopped arch Ronaldo critic Paul Merson from claiming both sides are making a mistake sticking with the 37-year-old at Old Trafford.
And Merson, who believes the former Manchester United forward is part of the problem not the solution at United, says it's going to lead to more issues next season. Writing in his Daily Star column, Merson said: "Ronaldo should have gone to Paris St-Germain to form a dream team with Lionel Messi this summer.
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"Because Erik Ten Hag's revolution can't start until Ronaldo has left Manchester United in my opinion. And Ronaldo isn't winning the title at Old Trafford so why stay anyway? He doesn't have many years left to win the big prizes.
"Imagine him at PSG with Messi. They've spent years being rivals. It would be fun to watch them end their careers as team-mates. And you keep hearing that Neymar could be leaving PSG so you could have a forward line of Messi, Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe!
"It would be Harlem Globetrotters stuff but that is what they do there - and Ronaldo would be guaranteed to win big trophies again.
"It's probably the best place for him. And they would be on the TV every single week all over the world because everyone would want to see that.
"They probably still wouldn't win the Champions League because while Messi and Ronaldo have been the best players in the world for years, they're not any more.
"Messi only scored six goals in the French league last season. He used to score six in a week in Spain. But those three up front are a Playstation football team. It would be fun to watch.
"It isn't fun to watch Ronaldo at United. Ronaldo's at an age now where he's not going to go and close players down.
"Before Ronaldo came, United were a team full of players closing down and counter attacking with unbelievable pace, energy and skill.
"But they couldn't do that last season with Ronaldo. I know he scored a load of goals. People said he'd done his job.
"The thing is, surely United would rather win the league with Ronaldo only scoring a handful of goals than finish a million miles behind with him getting a hatful.
"That's like building a house and saying you've got nice windows, but the roof hasn't been put on properly. It doesn't work.
"Ronaldo was standing around laughing sarcastically against Brighton last season as if he was saying: 'What am I doing here?'
"But there aren't many places he can go. Manchester City have got Erling Haaland now. He's not going to Liverpool. PSG are about the only ones."
Merson, who is also a Sky Sports pundit, had a series of bust-ups on TV about Ronaldo last season.
But the former Arsenal and England forward said: "Don't get me wrong. Ronaldo is one of the best players of all time.
"Even last season I watched him and at times and thought: 'Wow he's so far off it.' And then he goes bang and scores and you're like: 'How did you do that? You haven't touched the ball for 25 minutes!'
"The bloke is special. He has such self belief. I think mentally he is the strongest player there has ever been in the game.
"I think Messi is different. I think he was born with his talent. Ronaldo has had to work at it. You can videos of Messi scoring unreal goals as a kid. It came naturally for him.
"With Ronaldo it's been sheer hard work and dedication. But there won't be a revolution at United next season under Ten Hag with Ronaldo there. He's a year older and if he's asked to close people down, he just isn't one of those players.
It's going to be hard. The manager is going to have exactly the same problems as the last one did."
