There Is Only One Sinnacle

No one player is bigger than the team.

The above statement is something I’ve heard regularly since Real Madrid’s bid to land Cristiano Ronaldo was accepted. Is Cristiano Ronaldo bigger than Manchester United? Well the simple answer to that is no. Manchester United has 100 years of history behind them and will have 100 more. Trophies will continue to land at Old Trafford in the future.

This is the point where things get murky. Name me another three year run in Manchester United’s history where they had three EPL titles, one Champions League victory, Another Champions League finals appearance to go along with a semi final defeat to the team who went on the win the Champions League. Throw in a Carling Cup in the mix along with a FA Cup final appearance and all that adds up to an impressive three year run.

Now name me the player who was the driving force behind Manchester United’s recent success? Granted Manchester United will still have world class players but that aura which Ronaldo had around him where United fans knew things would turn out alright provided number 7 was out there playing is now gone. Even a Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal supporter would concede, possibly in private that the difference between United and the rest of England was they had Ronaldo in their lineup. Now with him gone Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal must be excited thinking about the fact they have a golden chance to unseat United at the top of English football.

Manchester United had 80 million reasons to sell Ronaldo. The fact is 80 million pounds is good business, but good business and titles do not always mix. Despite behind over backwards for him nothing United could do to stop Ronaldo from thinking that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence so in that respect cutting your losses and still cashing in on 80 million pounds is pretty good. Wonder however if Manchester United management will start to feel they have never had it so good as when Ronaldo was racing up and down the flanks for United. Can safely say that Ronaldo doesn’t feel the same right now but five years down the road he may look back at his time in Manchester and realized how good he had it himself.

This is the problem which Manchester United can’t solve with losing Ronaldo not even an extra 80 million in the bank. Not only are United losing arguable the best midfielder in the world but United are also losing one of the best strikers in the world. Unless you have the last name Messi no one player can fill those roles. Manchester United if they are committed to spending the entire Ronaldo transfer fee they would have to bring in two players instead of one. The scary thing for United was how over matched they looked against Barcelona who can easily claim 4 out of the top 10 players in the world. Leaving out Goalies and Midfielders below will be a rough list of the top 10 players in the world.

1. Lionel Messi – Not Leaving Barcelona anytime soon.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo – Madrid bound

3. Kaka – Also Madrid bound

4. Andrés Iniesta – See number one.

5. Fernando Torres – Wasn’t tempted by Chelsea last summer, don’t see him leaving Liverpool for dreaded rivals Manchester United despite their interest.

6. Xavi – See number one and four.

7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – While better Ibrahimovic is still too much like Dimitar Berbatov. Also unlikely that Manchester United wishes to deal with another high strung player.

8. Frank Ribery – Has already dismissed life in England. While money talks Bayern Munich are not going to do Manchester United any favours price wise.

9. Samuel Eto’o – Would give Eto’o six months but he becomes unhappy living in Manchester.

10. Frank Gerrard (done on purpose) – Neither are at the right age for United to make a big money move for and besides both players are the face of their respected teams.

There are players such as David Silva and Sergio Aguero who on their day can be in the top ten but the point is despite who Manchester United decides to buy that player is not going to be the sure thing Ronaldo was for United. Another argument which has been made is that selling Ronaldo will free up the likes of Rooney and Berbatov. This is not a knock on Rooney’s game but when was the last big goal you can recall him scoring for United? It’s not the best sign when his best game in European competition for United was his first game when he scored a hat trick against Fenerbache. Ronaldo on the other hand scored the second goal against Inter to put them away. Knocked Porto out in the quarterfinals with his 40 yard stunner. Then put the final nails in Arsenals coffin scoring the second and third goals in the semi finals. Who is going to replace this output when United have been a completely different team when Ronaldo is in the lineup compared to when he isn’t.

Will Ronaldo be a success at Real Madrid? Manchester United fans surely hope he won’t be and looking back Ronaldo might miss the fact Manchester bent over backwards to fulfill his every whim something which may not be the case in Madrid. Part of me also believes Cristiano Ronaldo loves being the bad guy. He feeds off the boo’s and using that to motivate him to greater heights. After the 2006 World Cup an entire country hated him and he responded by winning the PFA player of the year. In comparison having the red half of Manchester now hate him can’t be that tough to deal with.

One thing I’m happy not to be hearing about is this question of loyalty. In a better interview than a coach Carlos Queiroz summed it up best.

”When you talk about loyalty, you must understand the loyalty has two directions,” Queiroz, who enjoyed two spells as Sir Alex Ferguson’s number two, told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme.

”Once in a while some of the top players have the capacity and the power to create their own motivation.”

Nobody could question Ronaldo’s performances on the pitch nor his drive to get better each and every day. For Manchester United fans to hope for a kid from Madeira to love wearing the United uniform like a Ryan Giggs or Gary Neville is nice to picture but was simply never going to happen.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 2:02 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.