Ronaldo Interview Overshadows Garnacho Winner
If ever there was a football club where the times seem to be changing, it is Manchester United, as improved form on the field contrasts with the unhappiness of the club’s most celebrated player off it.
Teenage winger Alejandro Garnacho appeared to have provided the ultimate feel-good story to send the club into the World Cup-enforced break with a last minute winner against Fulham at Craven Cottage in the final Premier League game until Boxing Day. Yet once again it was Ronaldo who stole the headlines.
Having missed the last two games with an ‘illness’, Ronaldo evidently felt well enough to conduct an interview with Piers Morgan, where he expressed his unhappiness with his current circumstances. While many fans will agree with his stern criticisms of the Glazer family, the club’s unpopular owners, few would doubt he crossed a line by declaring he had no respect for coach Erik Ten Haag.
Justifying this on the basis that Ten Haag had been mutually “disrespecting” him, he declared the club had “betrayed” him and were trying to force him out.
Whether justified comments or a declining player’s ego running rampant, it is probable that sports shops in Manchester won’t be selling many more United shirts with the name Ronaldo and a number seven on the back, as his second spell at Old Trafford is surely over.
This being the case, it is likely attention will switch to rising stars like Garnacho, who has already been in Argentina’s national squad, although he is not part of their Qatar 2022 World Cup party.
While Ronaldo is with the Portugal team and likely to be the centre of attention as any potential suitors consider a move for him, Garnacho will remain back in Manchester under the tutelage of Ten Haag, who will be keen to help him become the superstar who may yet inherit that famous number seven shirt and become one of the next generation of stars.