Despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s plain-speaking but articulate interview with a Portuguese newspaper announcing that he would stay at Manchester United, for now at least, Ian Herbert doubts the sincerity of a player whose “summer romance with Real Madrid will be best remembered for the way he batted his eyelids only at the Spanish press corps during the European Championships, [and] for his eagerness to sanction suggestions that keeping him at Old Trafford was tantamount to slavery.”
But for Manchester United fans who were perturbed by his desire to leave, and the way he went about showing it, forgiveness has already come, at least judging by the mood of the supporters’ internet chatrooms. “In part,” writes Herbert, “that is because United are the winners in this story for our times, in which a player tries to take control, agitate for a move without asking for one and so override a contract which rewards him well. It is also because football supporters have short memories when it comes to a player like Ronaldo, whose brilliance outshines his love of the bathroom mirror. And it is because United have got one over on Real Madrid.”
Although his departure for Real in a year’s time is highly likely, “there should be decent odds on him also leaving a hero.” Especially if he helps manager Alex Ferguson, rapidly approaching retirement, to match Liverpool’s 18 English league titles and defend a European Cup — “the true sign of greatness, as [United captain] Rio Ferdinand observed on Tuesday.”