We still have a week and two preseason friendlies left until the season starts, so it remains “silly season time.” Manchester United still have a lot of work to do in the transfer window, with a month and change left until deadline day comes.
Today we’ll talk about the last two guys to wear the No. 7 shirt. We start with the incredibly tedious Cristiano Ronaldo hold out/transfer saga. As you can see from this cartoon below, no one seems to want him:
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— Ziad is NOT in pain ? (@Ziad_EJ) July 27, 2022
Yes, when a transfer saga gets annoyingly protracted, to the point of boredom, a Tom & Jerry cartoon is the proper way to analyze it. Why is it that no one wants Ronaldo? Maybe all those reports last season about a fractured locker room, and CR7 being the main reason why, have some merit? Sure, players demand and force transfers through all the time, but rarely is it as overt as this.
It also doesn’t often get this high profile, with emotions running so bitter.
United maintain that he’s not for sale, but CR7 still wants to play UCL this season, because his main motivation is to claim the Champions League goal scoring record over Lionel Messi.
How noble of him. What a team player. Having missed out on his four, five, six potential destinations, Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is now trying to push through a move to Sporting Lisbon, his former club. That’s according to a report from The Athletic, so we’ll see.
Moving on to the player that Ronaldo shamelessly took the #7 shirt from, Edinson Cavani, he left the club as a free agent at the end of the season. But we still don’t know where the Uruguayan striker is going next. Perhaps Villarreal? He’s been in talks with the La Liga club for well over a week now.
Or maybe Borussia Dortmund? They are said to be contemplating signing Cavani as a temporary replacement for Sebastien Haller, who the German club acquired earlier this summer as a replacement for Erling Haaland. However, the 28-year-old was unfortunately diagnosed with testicular cancer a week ago, and obviously needs to focus on things that are much bigger than football right now.
Maybe El Matador can give BVB what they need in the short term?
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) 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.