Cristiano Ronaldo has sensationally presented himself as the man who will change Manchester United.
Despite receiving a hero’s welcome upon his return in 2021, Ronaldo’s second spell in the Premier League would come to a bitter end.
After a public row with Erik ten Hag, Ronaldo would subsequently make a series of explosive claims in a television interview in which United terminated his contract.
In the two years since then, much has changed at Old Trafford: Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group took over football operations after years of fan unrest under the Glazer regime, and Ten Hag was sacked in October.
However, while reconstruction behind the scenes has undergone a significant overhaul, difficulties on the field remain.
Rubén Amorim, Ronaldo’s former teammate in Portugal, has been hired to mold the team he inherited according to his progressive football philosophy.
However, results on the pitch have yet to improve, with a 2-0 defeat to Wolves on Thursday continuing the club’s worst start to a Premier League season.
Speaking at the Globe Soccer Awards ceremony on Friday, Ronaldo insisted that Amorim is not to blame for United’s current crisis and that significant reform would be needed for the club to return to its former glory.
“(The) Premier League is the most difficult league in the world,” he said.
‘All teams are good, all teams fight, all teams run, all teams are strong. Football is different now. There are no easy games anymore.
‘They need, I said it a year and a half ago, and I will continue to say it: the problem is not the coaches, it’s like… I always give this example… it’s like an aquarium.
‘If you have the fish inside and it is sick and you take it out, solve the problem and put it back in an aquarium, you will get sick again.
‘Manchester United’s problem is the same. The problem is not always the coach. It’s much more than that.’
More to follow
