The problem when you sign Cristiano Ronaldo is that, no matter how big a club you are, his gravitational pull is greater. Everything revolves around him, and he is not, it’s fair to say, somebody much inclined to seeing the bigger picture. And so it is that Manchester United, having won at Fulham with a late goal, heading into the World Cup break reflecting not on how much everything has improved under Erik ten Hag nor on how the club at last might be on an upward trajectory, but on an interview Ronaldo gave to Piers Morgan.
United had not played especially well at Fulham, but it had won with a last-minute winner from Alejandro Garnacho. In February 2007, United also won 2–1 at Fulham with a late goal from a brilliant young winger in Ronaldo but scarcely had the comparisons between Garnacho and Ronaldo begun to be made when news broke of the great meeting of self-serving narcissists on Talk TV.
Ronaldo said he felt “betrayed” by the club. This is the Ronaldo, of course, who spent the summer trying to force a move to somewhere where he could play Champions League football and improve his already extraordinary goal-scoring record in the competition.
“I felt like some people don’t want me here,” he said, “not only this year but last year, too.” Yes, and one of them was himself. And if teammates and coaching staff started to tire of a player who openly disdained pressing drills, insisting that training should be fun, whose ego dominated everything, perhaps that is not entirely inexplicable.
His scorn for Ralf Rangnick, who replaced Ole Gunnar Solkskjær as coach in November last season, is obvious: “I’d never even heard of him.” Ronaldo hadn’t heard of the man who essentially inspired the modern German school of pressing? He hadn’t heard of the sporting director who oversaw the growth of the Red Bull group of clubs? He hadn’t heard of the coach who led Schalke 04 to the Champions League semifinal? That says far more about Ronaldo than it does about Rangnick.
Ronaldo admitted his relationship with ten Hag has been difficult. “I don’t have respect for him because he doesn’t show respect for me,” Ronaldo said. “If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never gonna have respect for you.” This is the Ronaldo who has twice left games early this season, which seems pretty disrespectful and everything to do with the club.
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His former teammate Wayne Rooney criticized him for that, drawing him into Ronaldo’s line of fire. “I don’t know why he criticizes me so badly …” Ronaldo said, “probably because he finished his career and I’m still playing at a high level. I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him. Which is true …” Absolutely no preening egotism there.
“I want the best for the club,” Ronaldo said. “This is why I came to Manchester United.” Which might be a more convincing claim had the move not been rushed through when it seemed he might be about to join United’s local rival, Manchester City. He is right to speak of the lack of “evolution” at the club since he first left, in 2009 (a year after he initially tried to leave), but it is precisely that failure of decision-making under the ownership of the Glazer family that led to his return.
Even when he was still a top-class footballer, Ronaldo was a difficult presence, his unwillingness to press made him unsuited to the modern game, his self-regard complicating dressing-room relationships. And the truth is he has been in decline for four or five years now. He may still have been scoring goals, but he made his teams worse. The season before Ronaldo joined Juventus, it scored 86 goals; in the three seasons with him, it scored 70, 76 and 77. The season before he moved to Old Trafford, United scored 66 goals; although he got 18 last season, United scored just 57. This season, United has been averaging 1.0 points per game in league matches he has started; 2.2 without him.
In the interview, Ronaldo appealed to Sir Alex Ferguson and his greatness, but the reality is Ferguson would have been shot of him long before now; he was always ruthless in moving on players who had served their purpose. The best football managers tend to be brusquely unsentimental, because aging players often become toxic.
Ronaldo’s single-mindedness was a large part of what made him a great player. His commitment to self-improvement has been extraordinary. He has shown remarkable dedication and strength of character not least in playing on in April after the death of his infant son. But nobody should ever think clubs have ever been anything to him more than a tool toward that self-improvement.
This interview finalizes a process that was happening anyway. It’s been clear that ten Hag was trying to maneuver Ronaldo out of United; there’s surely no way back now. Assuming a destination can be found—which, given his wages, will not be easy— Ronaldo will leave railing at the club, its directors and ten Hag. But what he is really railing at is his own waning powers, that age has claimed him as it claims us all.
