Cristiano Ronaldo starts the season in the midst of a silent war to leave United

Surely the French philosopher Émile Boirac knew little or nothing about football. But the concept of Already seenthat he proposed in 1917 in his book “L’Avenir des sciences psychiques”, seems very useful to describe the days that Cristiano Ronaldo is going through, who once again, as happened to him a year ago when he was playing at Juventus, kicks off the season this weekend by waging a clandestine battle, now at the helm of Manchester United, to change clubs. This time, the lack of convincing offers and the proximity of the World Cup in Qatar complicate the picture. With 25 days in advance that the pass market will remain open in Europe, the end of this offer is still uncertain.

Broadly speaking, the game clearly looks relieved. The Portuguese wants to leave the institution where he arrived on August 27 last year and in which he had already had a first cycle between 2003 and 2009, but does not make it public. United management and the new manager, the Dutchman Erik ten HagThey want it to stay. Or, at least, that’s what they verbalize. In order for the dispute to lean in the player’s favor, a third actor would have to come into play: a club that wanted him and that was able to meet his demands. There is the crucial point of the matter right now.

Despite the two-season contract that CR7 signed upon his arrival at red devils remains guarded under seven keys, the British press reported that the footballer’s salary amounted to 25 million pounds ($ 30.2 million) per year. There are not many clubs that can afford such a disbursement for a 37-year-old footballer, no matter how many Cristiano and Ronaldo carry his ID with them. However, not everything is money. The attacker, in fact, has rejected these days a $ 253 million bid to play in Saudi Arabia.

Cristiano wants to arrive in optimal conditions to compete in his fifth (and last?) World Cup. For this, he intends to perform in the coming months in a European club that has very demanding challenges ahead of it. Among them, the Champions League. If he stays at Manchester United, he won’t play it. It would be the first time in 20 years that he would not participate in the tournament that sees him as the top scorer in history (he has 140 goals).

If United do not play the Champions League this season it will be because of their very weak 2021/22 season, in which they were eliminated in the round of 16 of the continental tournament, finishing sixth in the Premier League (35 points behind the champion, Manchester City ) and capitulated in the knockout stages of both the FA Cup and the League Cup. That lack of competitiveness bothered the ultra-competitive CR7, who was the team’s top scorer (he made 18 in the Premier League and 6 in the Champions League), but he did not have amazing performances. It is clear that his companions did not help him too much.

After that poor campaign, a major renovation of the campus was expected. There were many departures (Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata, among others), but very few reinforcements: only Lisandro Martínez, the Danish Christian Eriksen and the Dutch Tyrell Malacia. With that budget, it seems difficult to compete with Liverpool or Manchester City.

This is the arrival of Ten Hag, which doesn’t seem to have the ideal chemistry with, they finished convincing Cristiano that the best option was to leave. But so far Jorge Mendes, his skilled representative, has not found the Cinderella on whose foot this shoe fits. There was speculation about Chelsea and Bayern Munich as possible destinations, then Atlético de Madrid’s opportunity was sacked. Nothing concrete for now, even if time is not pressing yet: the market for the major European leagues will continue to be open until the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese is training with the United squad after missing the tour his mates did in Thailand and Australia in July for personal reasons. On Sunday he participated in his first friendly of this new cycle: he played 45 minutes in the 1-1 draw with Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford. It was his first appearance since May 7, when his team lost 4-0 to Brighton & Hove Albion for the 36th round of the latest edition of the Premier League.

Shortly after the friendly against Rayo, Cristiano shared a message on his social media accounts. “Happy to be back!”, he said, next to a picture of the match. The day before he had posted a picture of him smiling and accompanied by young people Charlie McNeill, Hannibal Mejbri, Willy Kambwala and Charlie Savage. “Work in progress” was the text that supplemented it.

However, his attitude on the day of the match with the Spanish team did not generate smiles: the Portuguese, who only played the first half, left the stadium together with some players while his other teammates were still playing the second period. “I told them it was unacceptable. We are a team and we have to stay until the end. “ Teg Hag said Wednesday in an interview with Dutch network Viaplay Sport Nederland.

That rudeness seemed to tighten the rope as much as possible, but this Friday the coach went out of his way to lower the foam and assured that the reprimand was not the only recipient of the campus emblem. “There have been many players who have left (the stadium), but the focus is on Cristiano and it’s not fair”, he has declared. She also tried to chase away the ghosts of a sale: “We have planned the season with him and now he is working very well. We have a top striker and I am very happy that he is here ”.

For now, and despite his little activity during the preseason, the Portuguese could add minutes to United’s Premier League debut against Brighton & Hove on Sunday at Old Trafford. it might as well be the owner, as Frenchman Anthony Martial will not play due to a muscle injury and Teg Hag doesn’t have many options in attack. None of this would extinguish the possibility of a move in the next few days.

The movements, words and silences of CR7 in these days, in fact, have been almost a carbon copy of those that preceded his farewell to Juventus. On August 20, 2021, while speculating about a transfer to Real Madrid, Manchester United or Paris Saint-Germain, he posted a photo on his Instagram account in which he posed on the training ground of the juve Together with Federico Chiesa and the young Nicolò Fagioli, his teammates at the time. “Cristiano told me he stays. On his part, there was never any desire to leave ”, assured coach Massimiliano Allegri that day.

Twenty-four hours later, Cristiano played a few minutes in the game old lady drew 2-2 with Udinese for the first Serie A date. Five days later, he announced his departure for United. “We wrote a great story together. I will always be one of you. Now they are part of my story because I feel I am part of yours “, he wrote to greet me. Perhaps in the next few days it will be your turn to publish a similar text. “A déjà-vu”, Émile Boirac would say if he were alive and interested in European football.

Shoot Cristiano

Beyond the fact that his 20-year professional career in the elite of world football has allowed him to spawn a shell to tolerate grievances, Cristiano Ronaldo has had to endure an unusual number of attacks via social networks over the past season. to Manchester United, more than any other Premier League player.

On Tuesday, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the UK’s broadcasting, telecommunications and mail regulator, released a report on Twitter harassment of gamblers in the UK. English league teams during the first half of the 2021/22 season.

According to this study, 418 of the 618 players whose accounts were analyzed had received at least one offensive message. Of the 2.3 million tweets directed to top division players during the first five months of the season, nearly 60,000 were offensive. Half of these 60,000 messages targeted 12 footballers, eight of them from Manchester United.

Cristiano Ronaldo appeared on the top step of the podium of the attacked (received 12,520 aggressive messages), followed by teammates Harry Maguire (8,954) and Marcus Rashford (2,557). According to the Ofcom report, the peak of crimes against the Portuguese occurred on August 27, when his return to England was announced. That day, 188,769 tweets were generated (three times more than any other day), of which 3,961 included insults to the attacker.