Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly gone on strike with Al-Nassr on transfer deadline day, leading to speculation that the greatest of all time could make a shock return to the Premier League with Manchester United
Manchester United have one last chance to bring Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford if the rumour mill rings true, but they’ll have to be incredibly quick to do so. The Portuguese great has reportedly gone on strike with Al-Nassr, leading to speculation that he could secure a last-minute move in the January window.
The 40-year-old, who has already enjoyed two stints with the Reds throughout his prestigious career, is said to be irked by how the club is being backed. A Bola claimed on Sunday that Ronaldo refused to play for his club against Al-Riyadh due to frustrations with how the club is being ran by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The PIF owns four clubs in the Saudi Pro League, with Ronaldo allegedly feeling as though the fund have been investing more money into Al-Hilal, Al-Ahly and Al-Ittihad than Al-Nassr – leading to him taking personal action. As a result, a number of clubs have been linked with the forward, as Monday’s 7pm deadline slowly but surely approaches.
One such club which has been mentioned comes in the form of Manchester United – with Betfair offering odds of 40/1 for Ronaldo to make a grand return to Old Trafford. The incredibly high price ultimately reflects the chances of such a deal coming to fruition, however, with less than an hour remaining in the winter window among other factors.
Ronaldo made a name for himself on the hallowed turf of the Theatre of Dreams under Sir Alex Ferguson between 2003 and 2009, after securing a £12.4million move from Sporting CP. During his first stint with the club, Ronaldo swooped three Premier League titles, four domestic cups and a Champions League, before ultimately moving on to Real Madrid in an £80m deal.
Over the next nine years, the striker cemented his legacy as one of football’s all-time greats, bagging two La Liga crowns, four domestic trophies, a quartet of Champions League titles and four of his five total Ballon d’Or accolades.
In 438 appearances for Los Blancos, Ronaldo also scored 450 goals and racked up 131 assists in total, not only leaving in 2019 as one of the most decorated players to grace the pitch of the Bernabeu, but also as Madrid’s all-time top scorer.
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A three-year stint with Juventus followed, before a shock return to Manchester United in 2021 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. However, his second dance with the club will be looked at with less fond memories.
After a dramatic fallout with Erik ten Hag, Ronaldo had his contract terminated via mutual consent in November 2022, before joining Al-Nassr as a free agent. In the years since, the contender for the title of ‘greatest of all time,’ has racked up 111 goals and 22 assists in 127 appearances, but there are now fears that his tenure in the middle east could be drawing to a close.
While Manchester United have been touted as a longshot to re-sign Ronaldo, a more likely scenario in the event that he opts to leave Al-Nassr is that he makes his way to the MLS. Betfair have priced the forward at 7/4 to join any MLS team next in comparison to the 40/1 he has been labelled with to join United.
Elsewhere, Sporting Lisbon (5/2), any other Saudi club (5/1), Real Madrid (10/1), Chelsea (12/1), PSG (25/1) and Newcastle United (25/1) have been floated as potential suitors.
It comes as Manchester United have endured a relatively slow window in terms of transfers, with Michael Carrick seemingly happy to stick with his current crop of talent for the second-half of the season. It also appears as though the Reds will instead look to strengthen their ranks in the summer, when they will have more time to assess their options.
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