Most liked posts in thread: Cristiano comes home

I don't know. As much as I like Bruno he is a player who when he isn't having a good game (which is rare especially for United) he is almost not existent all game. You saw at the Euros where he didn't really make a mark. Ronaldo on the other hand can be quiet but can almost turn a game on its head when he wants to. There aren't many players with that ability to turn a game on a regular basis when he isn't playing well. It's exactly why personally I would prefer the likes of Ronaldo or Zlatan in my team than a Mbappe or Neymar because while they may be older through hard work and intelligence they have been able to adapt to lessening physical abilities while keeping those key attributes that have always made them deadly which neither Mbappe and Neymar have shown to have even now

 

The only valid point is that the amount spent on him by Juve did impact their ability to construct a team especially when COVID hit but that’s hardly the case at United. It’s £12mill upfront which is peanuts and unlike Italian clubs which have largely struggled financially compared to England and even Spain and Germany that’s not an issue.

As for calling him immobile, did they watch that goal he scored at the Euros, the one where he headed the ball away from a corner and then got up the pitch to put away the pass for a goal. That’s pretty good for an immobile player

 

Supposedly medical passed, personal terms agreed (2 years + a further year option). Just waiting on the Visa to do the unavailing announcement. Talk is it might be tomorrow

 

For starters when was the last time Rashford played up front? He almost always plays from the left these days and if anyone is going to block his progress its Pogba as its the only way you can get him the space and time he gets internationally, in the PL when you play central you just get closed down way too quickly and too physically and Pogba in those situations shits the bed way too often. Plus he is lazy, you have to do some defensive work centrally but he just trots back most of the time. When he does actually put the effort in he often makes a mistake and then afterwards goes 'its not my game I'll have to work on it' and then never does. The left gives him the time and freedom he craves without the responsibility and that means he is competition with Rashford not Ronaldo. Plus remember Rashford is out for a few more months

And Greenwood isn't anywhere near being ready to lead the line week in week out and he will only benefit like he has from Cavani from having Ronaldo around to learn from. He will ultimately have learnt from two of the highest goalscorers in Europe over the last 10 years.

There is also the Cavani issue. Not only does he want to play in their internationals Uraguay have said they are going to ignore the PL clubs refusal to release players and ultimately if the countries do that clubs will have to release them because otherwise, they will report the clubs to FIFA who can impose bans on all other players from that club being allowed to player internationally, ban the clubs from some tournaments or ban registration of signings and clubs aren't going to risk those things. So Cavani is going to end up spending most of this season isolating coming back from South America so Ronaldo will largely just take Cavani's spot most of the time.

I also expect that Martial may very leave before the end of the window. Two season back he looked like he was becoming the striker that there was all the promise about but he regressed last season and didn't look any better on the weekend

And I'm not sure Ronaldo will play every game. He knows he is getting older and he was around the likes of Giggs and Keane where the regularity of games in England and the intensity where it was more important that they were ready for the big games rather than playing every game. If he is fully ready for say a match vs City then I don't think he is going to mind all that much if he misses a match vs Norwich

 

Not much different to what they were, I'm not expecting us to win the title, think it's still a season or so too early for that. There's a couple of places we still need upgrades either by bringing other players in or some players still needing a year more to develop but I'm expecting us to be in the mix for longer than we were last season so if there is a major slip up we are there to take advantage. I think we can win a cup, ideally CL or FA Cup but league cup would do

 

We didn't need him, I would say City needed him more because let's be honest they have no-one who can really play as a focal point well. Ferran Torres isn't a striker and Jesus just hasn't come close to fulfilling his potential.

However signing him is a bonus because there are a few issues with the strikers (be it seemingly lost all confidence in Martials case, the internationals with covid isolation issue of Cavani plus the niggles he had a few of last season, Rashford putting off surgery for the Euros meaning he won't be back until November or Greenwood it just being too early for him to lead the line in a single striker formation) which he will help with AND most importantly its the message. If we had let him go to City what message does that send about the club not just to the fans but to the players. It's one thing just sitting back and letting him join say PSG but sitting back and letting City have a free run would have been a massive negative across the board. As it is Ronaldo will give all the players a boost, the young players especially will see and learn from his level of professionalism just like the Class of 92 learnt from Cantona's.

It's also the kind of signing that might get Pogba to put pen to paper on a new deal and will also be appealing to anyone else we go after in the next couple of windows