Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Manchester United in 2021 but by November 2022 his time at the club had ended under a cloud

Cristiano Ronaldo and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer shake hands after the former is substituted vs Spurs (Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo felt right at the time but soon went wrong.

Ronaldo started his tenure back at Old Trafford in the best possible way with a brace in the victory over Newcastle United. However, by the end of his spell, the Portuguese icon threatened to ruin his reputation at the club.

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With Erik ten Hag in place, Ronaldo took the decision to speak to Piers Morgan on TalkTV and aired his grievances including with the manager and some of his former teammates. Asked to look back on the decision to re-sign the forward, Solskjaer admitted to The Athletic it was his decision rather than one made by Ed Woodward.

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He explained: “It was a decision that was very difficult to turn down and I felt we had to take it, but it turned out wrong. It felt so right when he signed and the fans felt that at that Newcastle game, when Old Trafford was rocking.

“He was still one of the best goalscorers in the world, he was looking strong. When I looked at the fixtures it was going to be a deciding period: Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham, and Leicester away. Then Chelsea and Arsenal, plus Champions League games.

“Things went against us. It started with Aston Villa at home [a 1-0 defeat] and a late penalty miss. When you have a group you need everyone to pull in the same direction. When things didn’t go right, you could see certain players and egos came out. We beat Tottenham convincingly 3-0 away, but then we lost two games.”

Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk