Let's all laugh at Man Utd: Istanbald

[GDeep™]

Such a weird situation, Keane was absolutely unbelievable in games vs Holland and Portugal which helped us qualify, there's no way in hell we'd have qualified without him. I've no idea of what happened in the lead up to the final game but Keane's professionalism isn't something I'd have ever questioned (well ignoring the drinking anyways ).

Crazy situation when you think of it, our greatest ever player (tho maybe Brady has a shout) not playing in a world cup when he's at his peak.

Him and Mick McCarthy had a beef going back to when McCarthy was playing in the Ireland team with him. Think him questioning Keane’s injury was the final straw.

 

[GDeep™]

Keane was talking about 25 years ago too, I’m guessing he was talking bottles of beer in bars, maybe pints etc. He stopped drinking shortly after.

Never liked beer myself.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Keane was talking about 25 years ago too, I’m guessing he was talking bottles of beer in bars, maybe pints etc. He stopped drinking shortly after.

Never liked beer myself.

Yeah I've seen interviews where he said himself he realised it was a problem for him but he got into a habit of just going to the pub.

I actually can't drink beer at all now, I've had two cans this year and it was a real struggle to finish them. It just doesn't agree with me at all. I just stick to whiskey on the few occasions I do drink, which isn't often at all anymore.

 

[Macho]

Ronaldo's return to Manchester United: How the deal was done

Cristiano Ronaldo has returned to Manchester United after the club persuaded him not to join neighbours City. Here's how they did it...

theathletic.co.uk

Spoiler: Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United: How the deal was done

Laurie Whitwell, Adam Crafton

When news filtered through on Thursday evening that, to Manchester United’s horror, Cristiano Ronaldo really had agreed to join Manchester City, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke with his inner circle and knew United had to act.

Solskjaer recognised that beyond the playing aspects for Pep Guardiola’s side across town, seeing Ronaldo pull on the blue shirt of City would have wider consequences for United. To allow a legendary United figure to turn out for their local rivals without a fight would damage the club in the eyes of current players, potential recruits, and supporters. Conversely, Solskjaer pictured the benefits re-signing Ronaldo could bring to his squad, one of the youngest in the Premier League, with his ultra-professionalism and elite pedigree.

Solskjaer placed a call to chief executive Ed Woodward with one aim — he wanted to know if United could do the deal instead. It was a quick conversation. Woodward agreed instantly and set about negotiating with Ronaldo’s Italian club, Juventus.
Meanwhile, the network of past United players and even their iconic former manager Sir Alex Ferguson went to work on Ronaldo himself. Ferguson is described by multiple sources as playing a “major role” over the 24 hours, phoning Ronaldo and using his good relationship with Jorge Mendes, the superagent, to aid United’s cause.
Rio Ferdinand is another who stepped in heavily, almost acting as a broker on behalf of United. Ferdinand had a passionate conversation with long-time United team-mate Ronaldo, who was genuinely inquisitive about the impact moving to City might have on his United legacy. Ferdinand was firm in counselling Ronaldo over the hurt seeing him joining City might cause, set against the joy that returning to Old Trafford would bring him and United fans.
Ferdinand is also close to Woodward and made sure United were informed over the financial details. He was still up at 1.30am, sending messages to get the deal moving.
In provocative social media updates on Friday afternoon, sunglasses shielded the bags under his eyes.


At the same time, Bruno Fernandes pressed his Portugal team-mate, Patrice Evra exchanged voice notes with him on WhatsApp, and Solskjaer, who was still a senior player at United when Ronaldo first joined the club as a teenager in 2003, personally intervened too. It was an avalanche of affection.


By 1.15pm on Friday, when Solskjaer performed his media duties ahead of this weekend’s game against Wolves, it was clear that United felt their charm offensive had worked.
It is believed Ronaldo had given his word he was signing up for a second spell by 10.30 that morning.
The Athletic had at that stage been informed United were making a late play and asked Solskjaer at his press conference about the prospect of beating City to the punch. His response was effusive: “Cristiano is a legend of this club. The greatest player of all time, if you ask me. I was fortunate enough to play with him. I coached him when I got my job (on the United staff).
“Let’s see what happens with Cristiano. Everyone who has played with him has a soft spot for him. We’ve always had good communication. Bruno has been talking to him. He knows what we feel about him. If he was ever going to move away from Juventus, he knows we’re here.”
Solskjaer’s eyes danced as he spoke, a sign of anticipation.
United worked quickly. At 4.53pm, the announcement came that the sensational deal was done. It has come at a cost of an initial €15 million with €8 million in add-ons, with Ronaldo poised to sign a two-year contract.
Here, The Athletic reveals how:

• Mendes tried all summer to get Ronaldo to United but club executives did not bite for fear of being stung and a belief Juventus would refuse to sell
• City had fully agreed a deal with Ronaldo, who gave Juventus team-mates the impression he was joining Guardiola’s Premier League champions as recently as 8am Friday
• There are suspicions Mendes used City’s interest to get United to the table, and claims the gazumping will have potential repercussions for future business at the Etihad
• Ferguson has repeatedly wanted United to re-sign Ronaldo, most recently in 2019, and said that “all hell would have broken loose” had the club failed to land him now
• Ronaldo is seen as a transformative figure at set pieces as well as elsewhere on the pitch, with United in need of a centre-forward presence amid doubts over Edinson Cavani’s future availability
• Ronaldo is completing his medical in Lisbon and then joining up with the Portugal national team, as there was not enough time to complete the paperwork for him to play against Wolves.

---

For over a year now, Ronaldo has not been content with life at Juventus.
The Athletic reported earlier this year that he had in fact been offered to Paris Saint-Germain during last summer’s transfer window. PSG declined that approach, partly because much of their attention even then was focused on preparing a package to tempt Lionel Messi away from Barcelona, as the Argentinian briefly appeared to be available, but also because their president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is not as close to Mendes as he had been in the early days of Qatari rule at the Parc des Princes.
This summer, Ronaldo’s future has appeared uncertain.

On the surface, it seemed he may remain in Turin. After Lyon eliminated Juventus in the Champions League last-16 just over a year ago, club chairman Andrea Agnelli described Ronaldo as a “pillar of Juventus” and suggested any links to PSG were “mischief” on the part of journalists. Then, on July 7 this year, Agnelli presented his new executive team and again insisted there had been no indication from Ronaldo that he wished to leave.

Agnelli said: “There hasn’t been any signal on his part or that of Juventus. We’re really happy with Cristiano and as soon as he’s finished his deserved (post-European Championship) rest he’ll join up with that team for pre-season.” Ronaldo did as Agnelli suggested he would, reporting for his pre-season medical on July 26, which led to cautious optimism he would remain.
However, following PSG’s free-agent signing of his great rival Messi on August 10, speculation intensified over Ronaldo’s future.

Ten days ago, Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti took the unusual step of writing on Twitter that he had not considered bringing the player back to the Bernabeu this summer. Ronaldo then wrote on his own social media, stating his unhappiness with the manner in which he felt his name was being “played around” in the media during this transfer window.

The Athletic has learned that, shortly before these two statements, Ancelotti was made aware that Ronaldo would be open to a return to Madrid, the club he left for Juventus in 2018, and the player’s entourage were eager for him to press club president Florentino Perez into agreeing a dramatic return.

One source close to the situation said: “Cristiano was absolutely desperate to get out of Turin and into an environment where he could be happier.” Madrid were given the firm impression that Ronaldo felt he had made a grave mistake by heading to Italy.

Ancelotti, however, is a shrewd politician and he knows the buttons to press. When he returned to Madrid for a second spell as coach in June, his first meeting with Perez saw the president outline very clearly that PSG striker Kylian Mbappe would be their sole objective of this summer’s window, even if that meant sacrificing stalwart defenders Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane in the process, and that no move for other high-profile forwards should be considered. Indeed, Ancelotti knew that Perez has previously “shut the door” on previous attempts by Ronaldo to return to Madrid.

Despite Ancelotti’s inaction, stories continued to emanate, which led to the coach denying any links on Twitter. Amid Madrid’s disinterest, Mendes made PSG aware that Ronaldo could be open to joining them, yet the French club have never entertained this prospect this summer and the suggestions that he could link up with Messi and Neymar in the French capital were only ever the figment of imaginative graphics on social media.

As Mendes scoured the market for opportunities, he fixed his gaze on Manchester City.

Around 10 days ago, City were presented with the chance to sign Ronaldo but initially declined the option, as they remained focused on Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane and, mistakenly, believed they could get a deal for the England captain over the line in this window. Indeed, The Athletic has been told that as late as last Thursday, sources in Spain were made aware that Guardiola did not want Ronaldo and, to quote a well-placed source, “had closed the door” on any possible transfer.

Yet within a week, widespread reportage made clear that Guardiola had spoken to Ronaldo to discuss where he would fit into the team and City saw Kane commit his future to Tottenham. Mendes already has a stable of clients at City, including Ederson, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo, and the club were indebted to the agent for constructing a deal that saw Dias join them from Benfica last summer, while fellow defender Nicolas Otamendi headed from the Etihad to the Lisbon side.
Negotiations commenced on Monday and intensified rapidly through Tuesday.

Mendes was reported to have met with City representatives in Paris on Tuesday evening and City were, at that stage, confident a deal would be done, albeit insistent that nothing had been concluded. Indeed, a senior source at the Etihad insisted on Tuesday afternoon that City were still deliberating internally as to whether they truly wanted a player their coach appeared to have written off as a target less than a week earlier.

Those deliberations included the stylistic fit of the player and also how Ronaldo’s wages may impact dressing room harmony. However, by Tuesday night, there was an expectation both from City and representatives of Ronaldo that the player would return to Manchester but to play in light blue not United red.

Ronaldo himself is said to have told a Juventus team-mate that he expected to join City as late as Friday morning, as he arrived at training around 8am UK time.

City’s temptation was dictated by on-the-field necessity, as they require a centre-forward having not got Kane, but also the off-the-field boost the signing would give to the club’s commercial presence. Sources in the Middle East, meanwhile, suggested the decision by PSG’s Qatari owners to sign Messi would have triggered sensitivities in the United Arab Emirates, where City’s owners had long pined for the Argentinian. After missing out on Messi, there is a view that they sensed an opportunity to lay down their own marker. This would not have been the motivation for the transfer, but it would have been seen as a benefit, particularly as relations between Qatar and the
UAE remain frosty, even more so than current relations between Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
On Wednesday, Mendes flew to Turin and on Thursday morning, at a meeting with Juventus vice-president Pavel Nedved, their new chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene and sporting director Federico Cherubini, he made clear it was Ronaldo’s intention to leave.

The timing — five days before the end of the transfer window, and with the season already started — was not appreciated. Mendes was told any deal would be on Juventus’s terms. Ronaldo participated in an open training session but he was the first to leave and also emptied his locker. He flew out at around 2.30pm local time in Italy to Lisbon for his medical, touching down in his homeland at 4pm.
Mino Raiola, the superagent who represents Paul Pogba, was also at Juventus’s Continassa headquarters on Thursday, mostly to discuss the future of his client Wesley, a 21-year-old Juventus midfielder, but those discussions evolved into talks about the Everton forward Moise Kean, who could return to former club Juventus to replace Ronaldo.

The Portuguese returned to Turin from Lisbon and spent 40 minutes saying his farewells on Friday morning. Head coach Max Allegri confirmed he did not train and would not be involved in Saturday’s home game against Empoli after expressing his intention to leave. By then, everybody involved knew the Manchester switch had occurred and that Ronaldo would be heading to Old Trafford as the two clubs held talks over a fee.

Juventus signed Ronaldo from Madrid for €117 million in the summer of 2018. He had been in the third year of a four-year deal worth a salary of €31 million net a year. After amortisation, his book value is €28.8 million, which is why Juventus needed a fee in the region of that amount in order not to record a loss in their accounts.

City’s first wish was to pay no money as a transfer fee but it is believed they were prepared to agree a price with Juventus after talks with Mendes this week. United, meanwhile, clicked into gear, or as one source close to negotiations put it, “woke up”. Late on Thursday evening, the pressure began.
Ferguson was at the heart of the strategy. His relationship with Ronaldo is genuinely as good as the misty-eyed testimonies make out. The Scot is described as being one of the few people in the world that Ronaldo “still defers to”.

Ronaldo’s biggest appreciation was the way his former manager chose him over fellow United forward Ruud van Nistelrooy following their training ground bust-up in 2005. His compassion after Ronaldo’s father died when the player was just 20 also left a lasting bond.

United’s first call to Ronaldo came late on Thursday night and Ferguson was a “decisive factor”. He has advocated United re-signing Ronaldo since he retired as manager after the 2012-13 season, with the most recent push coming two years ago. Ferguson pressed Solskjaer to make a move for Ronaldo, who was then having difficulties at Juventus under new manager Maurizio Sarri.

Ferguson has seen wishes for United to sign other players go unfulfilled but was not about to let this opportunity go by.

On Thursday he called members of United’s board and also Mendes, with whom he shared a healthy respect, to ensure United were doing everything possible. Sources say “all hell would have broken loose” if United had missed out again.

Former United players rallied round too, and word seeped out. It was no coincidence that Derby County manager Wayne Rooney spoke so strongly that evening against ex-strike partner Ronaldo joining crosstown rivals City.

Woodward negotiated with Agnelli, the pair having grown closer during the planning for the mooted Super League scrapped this spring, and they worked swiftly to a resolution. From a United perspective, the process was smooth and efficient, and Ronaldo will even be on lower wages than he was being paid in Turin.

The United squad are ecstatic at Ronaldo’s arrival. There is a belief he can change the dynamic of the dressing room with his fastidious approach and peerless trophy collection. “He will up the levels,” says a source close to the players. “He’s like Mr Miyagi in The Karate Kid — an expert of his craft. As a young lad, you will be in awe.”

An industry insider said United had to act to stop Ronaldo going to City. “The Glazers went and signed Tom Brady for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (last summer) and won the Super Bowl (in the legendary quarterback’s debut season). As Man United’s owners, you have to be shown to be putting respect on the club’s name — ‘We are competitive, we’re not letting him go there’.”

There may be collateral. Those with knowledge of the football business believe the relationship between Mendes and City will be impaired by this bruising episode.

Conversely, United were internally worried about Ronaldo going to the Etihad from a legacy perspective. They might have been forced to airbrush him from the club’s history in some ways were he to have made waves on the other side of Manchester.

United believe that even at 36, and turning 37 in February, Ronaldo can have a real impact for them on the pitch. There are doubts about Cavani’s availability this season due to his insistence on playing for Uruguay, who have World Cup qualifiers next month and in October and November, and the COVID-19 quarantine on returning to the UK that those trips to South America would currently entail, while Anthony Martial was once more an ineffective presence up front in last weekend’s draw with Southampton.

Ronaldo, with his phenomenal aerial ability, is viewed as providing Solskjaer with an asset in either box and United believe he has many more years at the top level despite his age.
It is a homecoming to cherish for United fans but club sources say this transfer is not about reliving the past.
They want to forge new memories.

 

[GDeep™]

Yeah I've seen interviews where he said himself he realised it was a problem for him but he got into a habit of just going to the pub.

I actually can't drink beer at all now, I've had two cans this year and it was a real struggle to finish them. It just doesn't agree with me at all. I just stick to whiskey on the few occasions I do drink, which isn't often at all anymore.

Same with me, I was on the whiskey. Nothing now due to it maybe interacting with some medicine I’m taking. My youngest brother drinks beer like water, i don’t know how those guys do it.

Keane in that interview also said he started eating salads etc because it’s what the foreign guys at Utd were doing, but he lost weight, became gaunt etc, his mom had to tell him to eat normal again.

 

[Rimaal]

No chance this is true. 11 bottles is certain death, even if you drink that across a night.

If you watch the interview, you'd know he was joking. He said when he was asked how many he had, he'd say 10 to 11 bottles, but it was a lie, likely it was 11 an hour maybe, which is an exaggeration to say he had more than 11.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

What did I ****ing say yesterday???

He always does this, he doesn't want to make Ole look bad by saying United are title contenders knowing Ole isn't capable of winning the title or being seriously competitive in the final weeks.

 

[MNUS]

You can't help but agree with Neville can you, adding Ronaldo Sancho and Varane to a squad that finished 2nd really shouldn't make them title contenders at all.

When Carragher challenged him on Tuchel/Pep etc winning the league with Uniteds squad wasn't he moaning about the board not signing an elite goalscorer like Kane too? And now they go and get perhaps the biggest goal machine around.

That's the problem with the process brigade though it will never be enough, elite coaches like Tuchel elevating what quality he has at his disposal on the training pitch first and foremost rather than just spending and hoping for the best is precisely what separates them from Arteta/Ole/Lampard. This time last year absolutely nobody would have said they would win the CL and was only a striker away from challenging for the league.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

 

[Tir Na Nog]

 

[Token Yank]

Said it before. Sancho has serious bust potential. Not sure his game suits the Prem. Also a good chance he has to fight his way into the side from the bench this season unless he finds form quickly. At this point, I doubt he would be preferred over Rashford, Greenwood, and Pogba (when he gets played on the LW).

 

[Riou]

I can't believe that Pogba wasn't sent off, mental decision to allow United's goal today...Carragher said he didn't touch him, even though he moved his shin pad round his leg, ffs

Why I hate VAR, it just confirms the bias for other teams, least before it we could sort of pretend it was a fair game!

 

[Gooner416]

Nearly spat out my coffee when I heard the "you're not that guy pal" soundbite weaved into the song.

 

[ThisFather]

Not gonna lie. I can see them contending for the Champions League. They already had a knack of defeating better teams. Now with Ronaldo and Varane they could be the toughest team around to face. Especially with Ronaldo who is the type of guy to casually score hat-tricks in knockout games.

 

[Juan Matas Beard]

Not gonna lie. I can see them contending for the Champions League. They already had a knack of defeating better teams. Now with Ronaldo and Varane they could be the toughest team around to face. Especially with Ronaldo who is the type of guy to casually score hat-tricks in knockout games.

Going to be weird for him, Ole as his manager, Fletcher and Carrick as his coaches. The latter two being his age range.

 

[dashsnow17]

Going to be weird for him, Ole as his manager, Fletcher and Carrick as his coaches. The latter two being his age range.

Do you reckon Ole actually has any authority over a guy like Ronaldo?

 

[dashsnow17]

Also, calling him "a great human being" was a joke. Ole's a prick for that.

 

[Juan Matas Beard]

Do you reckon Ole actually has any authority over a guy like Ronaldo?

If someone is ever to give any credit to Ole on this forum, it's for his man-management, he knows how to handle personalities, those such and Ronaldo and let him feel like he's the **** but still maintain a good handle on the situation, probably how he signed him as well when you look at his last press conference when they were speaking about Ronaldo to City, I reckon if Mourinho was in charge he would implode at Pep signing him and given up, Solskjaer was pretty cunning and managed it well.

Ronaldo probably is very self-coached at this stage. He probably has full autonomy to do whatever he wants outside of the regular training sessions knowing full-well that he'll be the only guy in the training ground at 6AM. Similar to Cavani, he probably gives these players the freedom and trust to do their thing on the pitch.

 

[Riou]

Ole coaching Ronaldo this season...

 

[Gooner416]

New highlight compilation of Sancho at United.