You may have seen from Manchester United’s social media channels that they re-signed Cristiano Ronaldo this summer. The Red Devils forked out £12.8m for the 36-year-old, who has already scored three times since his return.
Ronaldo’s comeback is obviously a short-term solution for United, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looking at the likes of Mason Greenwood, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford as the stars of the future.
Paddy Power News managed to grab former United midfielder Kleberson for a chat about his old team-mate. Here’s what the Brazilian had to say about any potential problems for United with Ronaldo.
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Arrested development
Manchester United signing Cristiano Ronaldo won’t hinder the development of Marcus Rashford or Mason Greenwood, they are both great players. They will help Manchester United in the Premier League, and in the Champions League.
Of course, they’re probably not going have a lot of minutes to play but if the team is doing well, and then also they are doing well, it’s going be very good for them to play in both competitions, because they can use different teams, but still similar in level.
It’s not a good idea to let Rashford and Greenwood leave United because they can help the team long term
Both Rashford and Greenwood are such talented players, they have a good chance of starting games and playing a lot of minutes. Everything depends on how the coach and staff decide to use those players because they need to look at their opponent and decide when to rest certain players which is a job for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to sort out, in order to keep those working hard and keep them competitive.
Golden Boot
Ronaldo can challenge for the Golden Boot this season. He’s never going to play football just for the money. He will push the squad to play better in training and in matches. Also, when he starts to play, he gets somewhat competitive. But he’s competitive about himself, he wants to push himself to become better.
When he’s with the Portuguese national team, he pushes his teammates hard to win games to get to finals. At Real Madrid and with Juventus, he worked hard for those guys because for him the better the team is playing, the easier it is for him to get the goals and the awards. He needs his teammates to feel good because it helps him to achieve those goals.
It’s a great signing for Manchester United because he knows the club well, he knows a lot of the staff there and they know him. Every player is a big fan of Ronaldo and so they will all work hard to help the team win, and to have players like Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes around him can really help them win titles. I cannot believe the team that Manchester United have now. It’s amazing! So many good players.
When Cristiano Ronaldo and I signed [in 2003], he was very young, and I was a little bit older than him. At that time, I had great moments, winning the World Cup and then arriving at a big club like Manchester United.
Ronaldo was very young, and was a talented player, but he had a lot of room for improvement. He had a lot to learn. But, of course, when it was a training session, or first time when I saw him at training, his technique with the ball was amazing. His dribbling was great and he was shooting with both left foot and right foot.
He has always been very focused and determined, even as a young guy. We don’t get many young players with that level of determination. We have a lot of young players who aren’t mentally prepared to get better day by day, and game by game.
Ronaldo was different, he wanted to be the best player and he worked hard and pushed himself. And that’s why he has achieved and is still playing a top level today.
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