After a mutual agreement to leave Manchester United following the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo will set sights on a new chapter in his illustrious career. The Portuguese striker decided to come back to Manchester following a 3 year spell in Turin with Juventus. It got off to a good start, as he scored a brace in his first match back against Newcastle, but there really have been no positives since. United got knocked out of the UCL Round of 16, they then finished 6th in the Premier League, qualifying for Europa League, and Ronaldo got benched early on this season. What can Ronaldo truly bring to a team? Which team lacks a CR7? Can he start for any big team in Europe?
My favorite choice
If I got to choose where Cristiano Ronaldo would next play football, it would be Borussia Dortmund. Currently, Dortmund are sixth in the Bundesliga, as they have struggled to score against some of the easiest teams that the league has to offer. BVB also qualified into the Round of 16 for the Champions League, where they have two matchups pending against Chelsea. In his career, Ronaldo has struggled against the Blues. He has totaled just 4 total goals and assists through 17 matches, but just one of them have been in the Champions League.
Borussia Dortmund also have one of the world’s greatest young talents, in Jude Bellingham. Bellingham, who will likely leave after this season, has shown great potential. He is an all around player, who is able to set his teammates up from any part of the pitch. He already has 10 G/A, playing mostly as a midfielder. This Dortmund squad has also lacked veteran presence for some time now, as Marco Reus has been injured. Having Cristiano on this squad not only gives defenses another threat to worry about, but it’s also a benefit for BVB’s youth.
2. The likely choice
It seems like Sporting Club de Portugal have the strongest chance of bringing back the talent that they developed. This is due to many reasons, one being that Cristiano would be able to play in his home country, in front of the fans that saw his career start as a teenager. The only downside to joining, however, is that Sporting CP are in the Europa League this year. Being in his late 30’s it is quite obvious that Ronaldo would like to spend as much time as possible in the Champions League. Even if SCP were in the Champions League, would they really have a chance of winning a game even with CR7? There just isn’t much reasoning behind Ronaldo signing for his boyhood club right now, when he still has at least one more year to play great football at the top level.
It truly will be interesting to see where Ronaldo ends up going, and how much his World Cup performance can affect the future destination. Another sleeper team that could enter the CR7 sweepstakes are Saudi Arabian club Newcastle (not the one from the PL). Ronaldo would only sign in Saudi Arabia if he got a tremendous amount of money, though.
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