With the end of the transfer window nearing, more and more rumours are popping up. Some make sense and others seem like their the work of fiction writers.

But as we know football can often be stranger than fiction.

One story doing the rounds at the moment is linking Manchester City with a move for legendary attacker Cristiano Ronaldo (Via Sport Bible).

Ronaldo was benched by current employers Juventus for a recent Serie A fixture against Udinese. That was quickly followed up with Cristiano’s agent Jorge Mendes flying into Turin this week (Source Goal.com).

People are now trying to do the maths, with the conclusion a transfer deal is in the offing.

You then have the news yesterday that long-term City target Harry Kane will be staying at Tottenham Hotspur this summer:

It was incredible to see the reception from the Spurs fans on Sunday and to read some of the messages of support I've had in the last few weeks. ?⚽

I will be staying at Tottenham this summer and will be 100% focused on helping the team achieve success. #COYS pic.twitter.com/uTN78tHlk1

— Harry Kane (@HKane) August 25, 2021

Now having missed out on Kane’s signature and having let Sergio Aguero leave on a free earlier in the window, Man City clearly need another striker to come in to the Etihad. They’re also one of the few clubs that could afford Ronaldo’s wage demands.

Again punters and pundits alike have their calculators out and are doing the math believing that the Portuguese superstar is about to head back to Manchester but this time jump into the arms of Pep Guardiola at City.

For me, I just don’t think it makes much sense at all.

I don’t think Ronaldo is the type of player (especially at the age of thirty-six) that would suit Pep’s style. Guardiola is all about team players and those that will work as part of the team. Cristiano is supremely gifted and intelligent but a lot of what a team does has to go through him. It happened significantly at Real Madrid and at Juve. As he has got older he tends to run less and stick to dangerous scoring positions. As a coach Guardiola isn’t even one that likes prolific scorers unless they can evolve into Pep type players just look at what happened to Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Barcelona. Both Samuel Eto’o and Aguero had to adapt their game to fit into Guardiola plans.

Guardiola has discussed in the past that he’d love a prolific marksman but that they’d need to show the same endeavour as those players that work their socks off:

“We don’t have these types of players who can win games by themselves. I told the players many times, you have to play as a team. 

“I will be honest. I’d like to have a player to score, every single game, four goals and run like these players can run. I would love it.”

Via Manchester Evening News

Pep simply isn’t a manager that panics either, he’d just play with a false nine rather than just pick up a forward that won’t fit in with his philosophy.

I’d imagine the Manchester City boss would prefer bringing in Bayern Munich hitman Robert Lewandowski.

I also don’t think Cristiano Ronaldo would want to go to Man City and in any way impact his Manchester United legacy. That move in 2003 really was the making of him and he will always credit Sir Alex Ferguson as be one of the biggest influences in his career. Would he really risk spoiling that? I don’t think so.

Then there’s the Kylian Mbappe talk.

The French World Cup winner is once again being linked heavily with a move to Real Madrid. The BBC reported yesterday that the La Liga giants had lodged a £137m bid for the striker.

Now I think they’ll need to bid a bit more to secure his signature but let’s say that they finally get their man this summer, that would leave PSG again looking for a forward.

I doubt if any club would fantasise quite as much as Les Parisiens in bringing Lionel Messi and Ronaldo together. They already have Messi and now they might just have the chance to bring in Cristiano too. PSG aren’t a club that are built on a footballing philosophy, they want to be seen as the biggest and want to be the most luxurious sporting brands within world sport. The Qatari’s could possibly see this as the best move to show off their wealth!

Maybe PSG instead go after Lewandowski, that could free up a position at Munich. Would Ronaldo fit that gap for a season or two?

Or possibly PSG stick to their guns and keep Mbappe, that could see Ronaldo returning to the Bernabeu as a returning hero!

Now while I see it as a nonstarter and a bit nonsensical, I still wouldn’t be totally surprised to see Cristiano Ronaldo moving to Manchester City.

Football isn’t a story or a film, it’s ultimately a business – The Messi PSG proved that.

If City see him as a player that can take them to Champions League glory and Ronaldo is willing to forget his Man United links for another huge payday, then who knows maybe we’re in for another shocking transfer deal this summer!

Posted on August 26th, 2021 by scott
Filed under: Article