So Cristiano Ronaldo has now made his triumphant return ‘home.’ With two goals on his re-debut at Manchester United, the fans at Old Trafford are now salivating at the prospect of what the Portuguese superstar can help them achieve this season.
The bottom line question is this- does the return of one of the greatest players of all-time automatically turn Manchester United into Premier League title contenders?
We start with the fact that United finished last season in second place, 12 points behind Manchester City.
This was amidst one of the greatest runs of away performances that the Premier League era has ever seen. Their record-breaking run has permeated this season. But even the most ardent of United fans would have to admit they were never really in the title race beyond February last season.
Much like they were never truly in the race the last time when they finished runners-up, in 2016-17 under Jose Mourinho.
In the summer, even apart from the Ronaldo deal, Manchester United did some of the most impressive transfer business in the entire league. Whilst their rivals wasted time chasing Harry Kane, and not buying many new players during the window, or throwing vast amounts of cash at a bunch of players that won’t really improved the first team, United astutely set about buying players who fix noticeable holes in their squad.
First off, they finally got the signature of Jadon Sancho. One of the most tedious “will they or won’t they?” transfer sagas of the last two years, was finally over and United had their man.
Next, they fixed up one of their most noticeable deficiencies, the center-back position, with the signing of French superstar Raphael Varane. Now they finally had secured a world-class partner for club captain Harry Maguire.
Suddenly United’s squad looked like they were just a defensive midfielder short of being able to challenge not only the best squads in the league, but also the entire continent. They didn’t actually go after a defensive midfielder, though, despite rumors linking them with Declan Rice.
Instead, they trusted in the development of Scott McTominay; a solid option that will pay dividends in the long run.
Of course, their next transfer market move is the one that we are here to talk about.
In the dying embers of a summer transfer window that had already seen some incredible deals done, rumors emerged that Cristiano Ronaldo would leave Juventus and head to Manchester City. The United old boys committee sprung into action and within a few hours, the Manchester destination had moved from City to United. From blue to red.
Ronaldo was coming home.
Ronaldo has not failed to score less than 21 goals in a league season since he left United. He also hasn’t failed to appear in less than 25 league games his entire professional career. He simply doesn’t get injured, and he always scores bags of goals.
I am stating the bleeding obvious here – CR7 is a massive recruit for United.
I don’t think his signature has catapulted them into genuine title contention though.
The aforementioned recruitment in the summer as a whole has brought them into the conversation.
And if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can get the trophy monkey off of his back – this might just be the squad to make Old Trafford the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ again.