Ronaldoff

[G-Man]

So Ronaldo wants away from Man United because he has noticed, all of a sudden, hat his team hasn't qualified for the CL. Plus, Ten Hag probably won't pander to him, and the only "NO" our Ronny acknowledges is the one in his first name. Also, Mendes needs another house.

For United it's a good thing if he goes -- provided a good goalscorer can be signed in his (and Cavani & Greenwood's place). But who'll take him, and at the wage he demands? The three clubs that have been touted include Bayern, who've waved the idea away dismissively. Would he fit in with Tuchel's gang at Chelsea? I have no idea what style Napoli play, but seems a quite intriguing idea.

[EIM]

There's no way Napoli can afford him. I'm not sure anyone can.

[EIM]

Anyway, he's not turned up for training due to "family reasons". I wonder if he's going to go full Cavani?

[DCI Harry Batt]

Good riddance.

[Jah Womble]

Cue the next marquee signing to appease United’s fans and alienate the rest of the squad…

[My Name Is Ian]

What I don't quite follow is why he's waited until the first week in July to make his announcement. They *could* have have had this - that he'd be free to go if they didn't make the Champions League - written into his contract last year. Even if that was too forward-thinking, United have been pretty much assured not being involved in next year's Champions League for more than two months now, so why didn't he say anything then? If 'not being in the Champions League' was the issue, then the argument that he was just holding out to see who Ten Hag brought in during the summer isn't exactly convincing, either. Nowhere really stands out from the list of Champions League entrants for next season.Marseille or Monaco, perhaps? I mean, I presume when he says he wants 'Champions League football' I assume he isn't talking about Lincoln Red Imps or Vikingur Rekjavik.

There are probably a fair few teams who'd like the commercial revenues that he brings in, but I don't really see where a 37-year old who doesn't/can't press fits into the Champions League in 2022/23. Would he go back to Sporting? Would they *want* him? I've seen some Very Online United supporters over the last couple of days suggesting that they should try some sort of swap deal for Neymar, which would obviously be very, very funny, but sounds like wish fufilment from people who play more FIFA than they watch actual football, to me.

I agree on Bayern being completely unsuitable (would any Bundesliga club be interested? I don't see it). United might like some sort of swap deal with Napoli involving Victor Osihmen, but I think Osihmen is valued at close to £100m and he's pretty injury-prone, so would even that be wise? And where do Napoli find half a million quid a week to pay him?

One of the biggest problems that Manchester United have right now is that most of the deals for the very best strikers have already happened. Everyone can see the whites of their eyes right now, and that gets expensive. As regards Chelsea, I think this is a good early test for Todd Boehly. Ronaldo ticks all the 'marquee signing' boxes and Chelsea probably do still need a Lukaku replacement. Can Boehly resist the celebrity signing to go for someone more sensible? You'd think Thomas Tuchel might have stepped in, by now.

This is a problem at a really fundamental level for Manchester United. They've brought in Ten Hag, okay, fair enough. Good choice, if you're going to replicate the Ajax system or something like that. But doing something like requires buy-in from absolutely everybody, maybe a couple of years to get a proper academy set up and purring and clear out ALL the dead wood (both playing and non-playing), and it needs their signings to be long-term projects rather than short-term marketing opportunities. And I've not seen much evidence in recent years that Manchester United are any good at making that sort of decision.

I have no idea who could afford Ronaldo (or want him) that he'd want to go to, and no idea who they get to replace him at four and half weeks notice before the new Premier League season starts and eight days before they're due to play Liverpool in a friendly in Thailand (because of course they are). The timing of him coming out and saying this right now - with little actual business having been completed and the deals they had lined up looking kind of shaky - is so bad that I could almost be persuaded that he did it deliberately to stitch the club up.

[The_Purple_Cow]

Obviously Ronaldo has known for the best part of a year or more that United where not going to be playing C.L. in 22/23. So either, he's been knobled by someone (Chelsea, I should imagine) or he is trying to pressurise the senior management to sign some serious players. The problem with signings is three fold.

1. They don't have enough cash to splash
2. They are not playing C.L. now and probably won't be in 23/24, so the best players are reluctant.
3. United have sacked most of their scouting staff and not yet replaced them, so Ten Hag is having to concentrate on players he already knows.

[ad hoc]

I confess to being surprised that he was expected to stay next season. I think I imagined he as on some kind of short term rolling deal (or even on loan from Juventus) and that he'd automatically be moving on.

[That Night In Barcelona]

His first game for Real Madrid was against Shamrock Rovers, who are in the Champions League now. Bring him home.

[That Night In Barcelona]

I suppose the question for Ronaldo is, does he want to play for Pochettino instead when he takes over mid-season.

[Snake Plissken]

In a few years time, I'll be able to say that I saw with my own eyes, Ronaldo playing at Turf Moor in a competitive fixture. My pride in that will only be exceeded by my delight that he did absolutely fuck all once there, and then stropped straight off to the dressing room as soon as the whistle went.

[Tony C]

The timing of him coming out and saying this right now - with little actual business having been completed and the deals they had lined up looking kind of shaky - is so bad that I could almost be persuaded that he did it deliberately to stitch the club up.

For sure. Ronaldo is all about maximum impact on and off the field.

[Tommasi]

He told Juventus he wanted to leave at the end of August, so he's gone early this year

[Discordant Resonance]

If the reports are true that Eriksen has virtually agreed terms, then that's effectively an upgrade already.

[My Name Is Ian]

Eriksen is a better player than Ronaldo right now, but he ain't going to get them 20 goals next season and they need a striker who'll do that just to be standing still.

[EIM]

I've got a feeling that if De Jong signs, we'll see Bruno play up front. Isn't that how EtH used Tadic?

[My Name Is Ian]

He likes a false nine, yeah.

If Chelsea sign Ronaldo, I will almost certainly die laughing.

[EIM]

Ultimately I don't care. I've seen Ronaldo's return described as a "problematic buzz" and I completely get that. That Newcastle game was some atmosphere, but in the back of my mind was the whole "well he's a rapist..." thing, which tempered, if not ruined, the whole event. I missed most of last season through a variety of reasons, work, being in a strop, lethargy, so missed most of Ronaldo's standout moments, and I'm OK with that. I got very bored of the weaponisation of and apologism for sexual assault very quickly. The double standards when compared to Greenwood was stark. I just want a quiet life, you know. No unnecessary strife. Ronaldo is unnecessary strife.

[EIM]

Same with Paul Pogba. Even when he was injured everything was about Paul Pogba. Deeply tedious. Say what you like about the limitations of Fred, but at least he keeps his fucking mouth shut. That goes a very long way with me.

[My Name Is Ian]

I tried to think myself into a position in which I was a Manchester United supporter and all this Ronaldo stuff had happened to a team I support, but I couldn't really. I mean, he was probably their best player of the last twenty years, but I just find him so personally unlikeable, in every way. It doesn't stop me from recognising what an incredibly talented player he is/was, but my 'put yourself in their shoes' mental simulator failed me.

I hope Spurs aren't mad enough to start thinking that would be a good idea. Their track record in that respect isn't encouraging, but I don't *think* they are. Quite asides from anything else, they have no need for him whatsoever.

I have deep reservations about Spurs signing Yves Bissouma but that's a different kettle of fish, emotionally, with being a new signing and all. If he's charged, I'd expect him suspended. If he's convicted, he's got to go. Presumably that risk was factored into what they offered to pay for him.

Completely understand that desire for a quiet life. I always found it healthier to keep an arm's length from it all. It's only football, and I can't be doing with getting angry about a game. My heart's in a bad enough shape, as things are.

The thing with the Greenwood situation seems to be that it's been a completely social media-driven reaction. I spend a lot of time trying to figure which way the wind is blowing at these clubs, and it seems to me that the closer you get to the match-going fans, the less blasé the talk about him and *that* is, and there seems to be a large number of people who are equating the justice system in this country with regards to sexual offences being a shambles with him definitely being innocent. Presumably 'because good footballer'.

I have a theory that one of football's biggest faultlines is between the match going fans and the Very Online fans, but that's for another time.

[Gangster Octopus]

We need to go back to the time when footballers of pensionable age went to Stoke to finish off their careers...

[EIM]

I tried to think myself into a position in which I was a Manchester United supporter and all this Ronaldo stuff had happened to a team I support, but I couldn't really. I mean, he was probably their best player of the last twenty years, but I just find him so personally unlikeable, in every way. It doesn't stop me from recognising what an incredibly talented player he is/was, but my 'put yourself in their shoes' mental simulator failed me.

I hope Spurs aren't mad enough to start thinking that would be a good idea. Their track record in that respect isn't encouraging, but I don't *think* they are. Quite asides from anything else, they have no need for him whatsoever.

I have deep reservations about Spurs signing Yves Bissouma but that's a different kettle of fish, emotionally, with being a new signing and all. If he's charged, I'd expect him suspended. If he's convicted, he's got to go. Presumably that risk was factored into what they offered to pay for him.

Completely understand that desire for a quiet life. I always found it healthier to keep an arm's length from it all. It's only football, and I can't be doing with getting angry about a game. My heart's in a bad enough shape, as things are.

The thing with the Greenwood situation seems to be that it's been a completely social media-driven reaction. I spend a lot of time trying to figure which way the wind is blowing at these clubs, and it seems to me that the closer you get to the match-going fans, the less blasé the talk about him and *that* is, and there seems to be a large number of people who are equating the justice system in this country with regards to sexual offences being a shambles with him definitely being innocent. Presumably 'because good footballer'.

I have a theory that one of football's biggest faultlines is between the match going fans and the Very Online fans, but that's for another time.

I definitely agree with the match going v online fans thing. It's such a difference in outlook It's as if they're watching different sports.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I have deep reservations about Spurs signing Yves Bissouma but that's a different kettle of fish, emotionally, with being a new signing and all. If he's charged, I'd expect him suspended. If he's convicted, he's got to go. Presumably that risk was factored into what they offered to pay for him.

The incident in question had passed me by, or slipped my mind, but apparently he's been cleared: https://theathletic.com/news/tottenh.../gXEpklJYiAGv/

[My Name Is Ian]

That's something, at least. Though social media is on fire about rumours about somebody or other having been arrested on suspicion of rape. One name keeps coming up, but i don't see anything more substantial than gossip at the moment, and so far as I can see it's entirely circumstantial, based on the tiny bit of information that was reported earlier.

[cantagalo]

In a few years time, I'll be able to say that I saw with my own eyes, Ronaldo playing at Turf Moor in a competitive fixture. My pride in that will only be exceeded by my delight that he did absolutely fuck all once there, and then stropped straight off to the dressing room as soon as the whistle went.

That's exactly what he did at Brentford - only he was subbed after 70 minutes.