Ronaldo to Sporting? Boyhood club might be his only way out

Updated: 25 Aug 2022 18:14 BST
3 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo, Man Utd, 2022-23 — © ProShots

Cristiano Ronaldo wants another shot at the Champions League.

That much at least has been made abundantly clear throughout this long, tetchy summer, where the striker has made no attempt to hide his frustration with life at Manchester United.

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There is one big problem, however. The Champions League, as far as can be surmised, is by and large not interested in welcoming back perhaps its greatest player - except, according to reports, for boyhood club Sporting.

With five triumphs in the prestigious European competition and 140 goals it might have been expected that at least one challenger for this year's title would have taken advantage of Ronaldo's very apparent stance that he wants out at Old Trafford following the club's failure to qualify.

But that has not occurred. Instead, and in spite of agent Jorge Mendes' tireless efforts, one by one Europe's biggest clubs have ruled themselves out of the running for his services.

Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter and Milan have all distanced themselves either privately or publicly from the veteran. The reasons seem clear enough. At 37 Ronaldo is not the player he used to be, and aside from his legendary goalscoring talents has little to offer a team which expects each player to pull their weight in every phase of the game, not just in the final third.

Not coincidentally that includes most sides good enough to compete for titles like the Champions League, and very possibly even United themselves, who gave a much-improved performance with their star relegated to the bench against Liverpool.

One last escape route?

Cristiano Ronaldo in action for Manchester United. — © ProShots

At this stage in the window, and with little prospect of a breakthrough, there may only be one possible solution which would both allow Ronaldo to save face and chase his stated goal and United to remove a player whose overbearing personality now seems to outweigh anything he does on the pitch.

Exactly how much stock can be placed in the rumour posted by Caught Offside that a move to Sporting is about to be completed is debatable. But regardless of its veracity, it might just make sense.

Returning to Portugal gives Ronaldo the chance to once more control the narrative. He is not the fading veteran moving on to the sole interested party; he is the lifelong Sporting fan making an emotional return to where it all began, ready to be feted by the club which gave him his first break as a teenager.

Not to mention that, as unlikely as they are to win the Champions League, they will at least have six games in the big time this year; nor that the striker will fancy his chances of running rampant in the Portuguese top flight and adding plenty more goals to his already astronomical career tally.

It would not be an ideal solution for Ronaldo, but it might be the best he could do with time quickly running out before the window shuts - the last and only escape route from what is shaping up to be an intensely frustrating season for him at Old Trafford.