Why United shouldn’t buy Cristiano Ronaldo

Firstly, I should say that I think all these rumours about Ronaldo wanting to leave Real Madrid are not true. However, being Ronaldo and Manchester United, these are rumours are unfortunately, likely to go on all summer. The transfer window hasn’t even official opened (thats from 1st July)!

Now being a United fan, of course I would love Ronaldo to come back to United. Come back home, so to speak. We signed him as a young, raw, talented footballer and in some way turned him into one of the best players in the world and one of the best ever. Now even if the rumours are true, and even if Ronaldo himself really wants to come back to United, there are a few reasons I think it won’t happen and maybe, shouldn’t happen.

1) Will cost too much

There are crazy figures being announced by newspapers about how much he will cost. I think it was the Daily Mail or Mirror (I know!), but they said would be about £175m plus De Gea. Now I had a bit of a Twitter argument about the value of De Gea – I think about £100m compared to recent price of goalkeepers and him being the best in the world (or at least one of the best) but I think most people would agree he would be at the very least £60m. Absolute minimum. So is Ronaldo worth about £235m? Thats 3 times the current highest world record fee (for Pogba). No chance. He is brilliant. Incredible. Too many superlatives. But realistically he has 2-3 years left at the highest level.

Unfortunately this is likely to be distracting in the transfer market for United. Could it effect any potentially future transfers? Could well do if one of the apparent targets is Morata (since he plays for Real Madrid)? Do United even want him (more on that later)?

2) Money better spent elsewhere

There is no doubt United have the money to spend. But would be crazy to spend that amount of money on one player (no matter how good) – especially if it meant selling our best player. That £200m+ cost be spent on at least 3 world class players. We don’t need this Ronaldo to United saga to end quickly so we can get on with signing players we actually need and can get realistically. Or we end up with over-paying for someone at the last minute.

3) Jose may not even want him

In a biography about Jose Mourinho, their relationship was described as “toxic”. In another biography, Ronaldo apparently had to be physically restrained to stop him hitting Mourinho.