Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted ‘it was very difficult to turn down’ the chance to bring Cristiano Ronaldo back to Manchester United but the decision ‘turned out wrong’ as ‘egos’ lost him the job. The Portuguese star returned for a second spell at Old Trafford amid enormous hype in August 2021 but Solskjaer was fired as manager just three months later.
The Norwegian coach had to fit Ronaldo into his side, though the forward performed well during his first season back, scoring 24 times. Solskjaer, who hasn’t taken another management job in almost two years since his dismissal, said egos came to the fore during a disastrous run of results that cost him his position.
‘It was a decision that was very difficult to turn down and I felt we had to take it, but it turned out wrong,’ Solskjaer told The Athletic of Ronaldo’s return. It was widely believed at the time that Ronaldo, who cost £12.85million from Juventus, was signed at the behest of executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward without Solskjaer’s input.
‘It felt so right when he signed and the fans felt that at that Newcastle game, when Old Trafford was rocking [Ronaldo scored twice in a 4-1 win]. ‘He was still one of the best goalscorers in the world, he was looking strong.
‘When you have a group you need everyone to pull in the same direction. When things didn’t go right, you could see certain players and egos came out. A 2-0 home defeat to Manchester City in which United were completely outclassed and a miserable 4-1 loss at Watford in which Harry Maguire was sent off sealed Solskjaer’s fate.
‘When I looked at the fixtures it was going to be a deciding period: Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham away, and Leicester away. Then Chelsea and Arsenal, plus Champions League games.
Ralf Rangnick took over as interim manager for the remainder of that 2021-22 season and was astonished at what he found. ‘The club he found in November 2021 was different from September 2021,’ Solskjaer added.‘I told him when I gave my opinion on every player. Things had soured, the collective had been lost and that’s not Man United, where teams are built on the collective.
‘Some players felt they should’ve played more and weren’t constructive to the environment. That’s a huge win for me. When I didn’t start games, I wanted to prove to the manager he’d made the wrong decision.
‘Now, a lot of players aren’t like that. Agents and family members get into their heads and tell them they’re better than they are because they have a vested interest. It’s a disease of modern football.’
