Solskjaer Reveals Who Cristiano Ronaldo’s Arrival At Man United Affected Most

Former Manchester United coach, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has revealed that it was Edinson Cavani that suffered the most from the arrival of Cristaino Ronaldo at Old Trafford in 2021.

Cristiano Ronaldo started his football career at Sporting Lisbon before moving to Manchester United in 2003. After a very successful spell at Old Trafford, he moved to Real Madrid in 2009 for a then-world transfer record.

Ronaldo enjoyed more success at Real Madrid until 2018 when he decided to move to Juventus. Three years later, he agreed to return to Manchester United.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work perfectly for him as the club decided to terminate his contract after blasting the club’s coach Erik ten Hag, and the entire management of the side.

Note that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in charge of Manchester United when Cristiano Ronaldo first arrived at the club. But things went sour for the 39-year-old Portuguese player after the sack of Solskjaer and the appointment of Ten Hag in 2022.

Amid that, Edinson Cavani had already taken the back seat since he couldn’t bench Ronaldo. That frustrated the Uruguayan player and contributed to his exit from the club in 2022.

“We started straight away thinking how we are going to press and change the little tweaks,” Solskjaer said on the Stick to Football podcast.

“Cristiano is different to Antony Martial who was up front, or whether we would play Mason [Greenwood] or Marcus [Rashford] upfront.

“Edinson Cavani was the one that suffered the most when Cristiano came in – we’d played and got Edinson into a certain way of understanding the way we played. Cristiano – when you know him and speak to him, he wanted to play three out of four games, and he realized he’s getting older as well. But when you leave him out once, he’s not happy!”

Note that Ronaldo is currently playing for the Saudi Pro League club, Al Nassr. As for Edinson Cavani, the 37-year-old striker is currently playing for Argentine side, Boca Juniors.

Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who has remained jobless since he lost his managerial position at Manchester United, said he decided to make Harry Maguire the captain of the Premier League giants instead of Bruno Fernandes because the Portuguese midfielder was “too passionate”.

The Norwegian tactician said, “I knew Bruno Fernandes had captain qualities when I was manager at Manchester United. He’s got the personality and quality, but he knows and I’ve told him that he’s too passionate at times and he loses a bit of control.

“I loved Harry Maguire as a captain, he was the leader in that group for me when I was at the club.”