- Ronaldo rejoined United in the summer of 2021 while Solskjaer was manager
- The Norwegian was fired two months after Ronaldo’s return to Manchester
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Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has identified the former staff member who expressed concern over Cristiano Ronaldo’s renewal in the summer of 2021.
Solskjaer spent three years in charge at Old Trafford and lost his job in November 2021 after an embarrassing 4-1 defeat at the hands of Watford, who were relegated at the end of the season.
Just two months before his sacking, the Norwegian pulled off a major coup by bringing his former team-mate Ronaldo back to Old Trafford for £19.8 million at the age of 35.
Despite a dream start to his return, scoring twice on his second debut against Newcastle, Ronaldo’s move proved to be a failure as the five-time Ballon d’Or winner saw his contract terminated in November 2022 after a fight with Erik ten Hag.
Three years after his sacking, Solskjaer admitted that current Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna, who was part of his coaching staff, had reservations about bringing in Ronaldo before a deal was agreed.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (left) re-signed Cristiano Ronaldo (right) in 2021 when he was still coach
Solskjaer (pictured after his last game) was sacked in November 2021 after a defeat to Watford.
The Norwegian manager has revealed that his former assistant Kieran McKenna was unsure about bringing Ronaldo back to Old Trafford.
while in a podcast with Norwegian media outlet NRKSolskjaer explained how he remembers McKenna analyzing six of Ronaldo’s final games for Juventus after being informed of the potential signing.
However, after returning from the analysis room at Carrington, McKenna suggested a different area of the pitch was more worrying for the Red Devils.
‘How are we going to defend ourselves? That’s the first thing he says,” Solskjaer recalled.
In retrospect, the former United manager, who scored 126 goals for the club as a player, believes the club made a mistake by bringing back Ronaldo.
He continued: ‘It was probably the wrong choice for all of us. “But we felt it was the right decision at the time.”
The 51-year-old failed to deliver trophies at Old Trafford and only guided the club to a solitary final over the course of his three-year stay.
It came in 2021, when United faced Villarreal in a bid to lift the Europa League in front of a paltry 9,000 people at the Gdansk stadium in Poland.
It would end painfully when Solskjaer’s side were defeated by the Spanish team, then led by Europa League winner Unai Emery, 11-10 on penalties after drawing 1-1.
Ronaldo’s second spell at United lasted just over a year as his contract ended in 2022.
Solskjaer never won a trophy as United manager and lost the 2021 Europa League final to Villarreal.
However, even though Solskjaer’s time at his beloved Man United did not end successfully, he still looks back on his three years as boss with immense pride.
“I’m proud of what I did,” he explained. ‘I have to say that I think it was very good and we were on the way to something very good.
“We came third and second, we reached several semi-finals and, unfortunately, we lost that final (against Villarreal).
“That’s how I think about it, if we had won the result could have been completely different.”
