Manchester United’s catastrophic 2021/22 season has not come without its consequences, and one player is unhappy about the personal impact it is having on him.
Manchester United’s failure to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the 2022/23 season has triggered a 25% wage cut in the salary of every player at the club, and this has added to the frustration of wantaway star Cristiano Ronaldo, according to Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News.
Now if anything, this 25% wage cut is one of the few positives that came out of last season’s horror show. United’s wage structure has been an issue for a number of years, it is heavily inflated and desperately needed to be brought down.
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There is an argument to be made that Ronaldo is one of the few players who actually deserves his wages, given his status as one of the greatest footballers of all time and the amount of money he brings the club through his commercial pull. His base salary has now gone from £480,000 a week to £360,000 a week, meaning he is no longer the Premier League’s highest paid player.
This change to his salary has reportedly upset Ronaldo. Whether or not this is simply a reaction out of emotion, given that his current desire is to leave the club, is yet to be seen. Ronaldo has not been in training so far this week, citing “family reasons” as his reason and the club have accepted this.
Ronaldo’s exit would throw a large spanner in the works of Manchester United’s summer plans, the club had allowed Darwin Núñez to join rivals Liverpool as they were working under the assumption that the Portuguese star would stay and remain the club’s main striker for another year.
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Now, should he depart, the club will likely need to go back into the market for a striker. An internal solution could be to try and rediscover Anthony Martial’s best form, which is a fairly large gamble but would certainly be a worthy one should he rediscover his best self.
Martial in 2019/20 was United’s best player, recognised by his teammates as he won the club’s Players’ Player of the Year award. The Frenchman has undeniable talent and should Erik ten Hag be able to extract that out of him again then it would save the Red Devils a significant sum on a Ronaldo replacement.
Whether or not the current situation with Cristiano Ronaldo will blow over or not remains to be seen, the player is definitely unhappy at present that’s for sure.
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The incoming signings of Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen could seek to calm the number seven’s frustrations, and should the club secure the signatures of Lisandro Martínez and Frenkie de Jong soon after this could help to calm Ronaldo down further.
The club do not want to let him go, and privately do not see many realistic suitors for his signature this summer, but it is worth keeping an eye on this story over the next week.
Manchester United are set to embark on their pre-season tour on Friday ahead of their first fixture against Liverpool in Bangkok on 12 July.
The club are then due to fly to Australia to face Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Melbourne Victory before heading back to Europe to finalise their tour.
They will face Atletico Madrid in Oslo on 30 July before flying back to play Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford the following day.
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The Premier League season finally then kicks off with a fixture against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday 7 August at 2pm BST.
The club want to have five signings finalised by the time said match kicks off, with Tyrell Malacia confirmed as Erik ten Hag's first signing of the summer.
The club are also set to sign Christian Eriksen on a free transfer, with deals for Frenkie de Jong and Ajax's Lisandro Martinez also in rumoured conversation.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Manchester United, Manchester United Transfer News & Rumours, Cristiano Ronaldo, Erik Ten Hag, Anthony Martial