Though Cristiano Ronaldo will always be remembered fondly for his first spell at Manchester United, his second will be go down in infamy.
The announcement of his return was greeted with celebration by the United fanbase and his second debut against Newcastle United also went to plan, scoring a brace in front of the Old Trafford faithful. But then things started to go wrong.
United began to lose, and lose hard. The final straw for manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came against Watford where the team lost 4-1 and the Norwegian was sacked. In his place, Ralf Rangnick was appointed interim manager.
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Things did not improve, however. Though United had progressed to the Champions League knockout stages but crashed out against Atletico Madrid and Ronaldo's goals began to dry up in the league, with the club falling out of the race to the top four.
A final burst saw Ronaldo end on 18 goals for the season, only behind Mohammed Salah and Heung Min Son in the goalscoring chats, but it was too little too late. United would not be in the Champions League for the 2022/23 season. This is where the problems between the 37-year-old and the club began to bubble over.
Throughout the summer, Ronaldo was consistently linked with a move away from Old Trafford. Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid just to name a few had their names thrown in the mix but nothing materialised and some of the higher-ups at these clubs even went so far as to publically deny the rumours linking them to the player.
While this was happening, Ronaldo was missing from pre-season due to his daughter's illness. The club accepted this reasoning, however when he returned he was not match-fit and therefore could not start every game.
This led to him getting limited minutes under new manager Erik ten Hag, who had been appointed by the club and replaced Rangnick.
Ronaldo would still get minutes for United, however, they would be inconsistent and it was clear that the player believed he should be a starter. This bubbled over in the game against Tottenham when Ronaldo refused to come as a substitute late in the match and was filmed leaving the stadium before the end of the match.
Ronaldo would not be available for the final few games before the World Cup due to illness but after United's last-gasp winner against Fulham a bombshell would hit the club. The Portuguese forward had filmed an interview with Piers Morgan and it was to be released the following week.
In said interview, Ronaldo took aim at his new manager Ten Hag saying that he didn't respect the Dutchman, he also took time to denounce his critics namely Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville while also criticising the Glazer family.
United were caught off-guard by Ronaldo's comments and were disappointed. This led to the club ultimately deciding to terminate Ronaldo's contract by mutual consent.
In a statement posted to United's website they stated: "Cristiano Ronaldo is to leave Manchester United by mutual agreement, with immediate effect. The club thanks him for his immense contribution across two spells at Old Trafford, scoring 145 goals in 346 appearances, and wishes him and his family well for the future.
"Everyone at Manchester United remains focused on continuing the team’s progress under Erik ten Hag and working together to deliver success on the pitch."
Though many United fans appreciated that he had called out the club's ownership, they ultimately agreed with the decision to part ways with their famous number seven.
Ronaldo was at the World Cup with Portugal and got as far as the quarter-finals with his national side. He will wait until after the tournament to make a decision on his future.
As it stands, his only official offer is from Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia. The Middle Eastern club have offered Ronaldo £175m over two and a half years which would see him become the highest-paid player in the history of the sport.
Only time will tell what the next chapter of this story holds.
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