The famous interview Romelu Lukaku did with Sky Italia wasn’t as bad as people thought. Certainly not when compared to Cristiano Ronaldo’s self-centered criticism of Manchester United, where he is a club legend and wears the famous No. 7 shirt.
Ronaldo says that “some people” at Old Trafford have betrayed him in an unapproved 90-minute interview with Piers Morgan that will air in two parts on Wednesday and Thursday. That he doesn’t respect United head coach Erik ten Hag, that the club is stuck in the past, and that former teammate Wayne Rooney’s criticism of his recent behavior is due to jealousy.
After Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left as head coach last season, Ralf Rangnick was put in charge of the team as an interim leader, which has also been criticized. “This shocked me and everyone else,” Ronaldo says in clips that have already been made public. “How are you going to run Manchester United if you’re not even a coach? I didn’t even know who he was.”
With this interview, Ronaldo has stirred up a lot of trouble at Old Trafford. Now he is looking for a way out. It’s not clear if one will show up in the coming weeks, especially since his performance on the field keeps getting worse. The all-conquering, age-defying, one-man attack is over. Father Time seems to have left its mark on Ronaldo.
Still, some Chelsea fans will want Ronaldo to move to Stamford Bridge in January because he has scored goals in the past for Portugal. His selfish actions at Manchester United this season will be forgotten. People will talk about how he won the Champions League with Real Madrid.
And let’s not act like Ronaldo isn’t a great way to sell things. His appeal can’t be denied, but it’s hard to understand why. His name is known all over the world because of that Manchester United No. 7 shirt. After having dinner with superagent Jorge Mendes, Chelsea co-owner, chairman, and interim sporting director Todd Boehly talked about the possibility of signing Ronaldo in the summer.
Chelsea never came close to making a deal for the Portuguese star, who has only scored three goals this season. The coach at the time, Thomas Tuchel, just wasn’t interested.
It’s thought that the German had concerns about how dominant Ronaldo would be at a club, and that the 37-year-old would become the story no matter how well he played, which is exactly what Manchester United have found this season. And that was before anyone thought about how Ronaldo would work in a team that pressed the ball a lot.
At Stamford Bridge, the problem of Tuchel has been taken care of. He left Chelsea just a few days after the transfer window closed for the summer. Graham Potter was brought in from Brighton and Hove Albion to replace Tuchel. This was done because Boehly and the new people in charge at Chelsea wanted a more open and collaborative workplace.
It’s hard to see how Ronaldo fits into that way of thinking. Not only did he set up an interview without Manchester United’s knowledge, but he also refused to come off the bench against Tottenham last month and instead walked down the tunnel and out of Old Trafford as soon as the game was over.
Ronaldo has shown over the course of his career that he is a focused person. But that part of his personality and game was accepted because he often scored the goals that won Champions Leagues, Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A titles, as well as a few domestic cups.
But now that his skills are finally starting to fade, fewer and fewer clubs are willing to give Ronaldo a chance. He seems to be the only one who hasn’t figured that out.
