Back in 2009, Manchester United lost one of the greatest players to have ever played in a Red Devil shirt to Spanish giants Real Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the best player in the world at the moment, decided to leave the Old Trafford in search of bigger challenges and boy has he lived up to them. In his time in Spain, Ronaldo has won every possible individual and team award and is now one of the most decorated players in the history of the game. He has won the Champions League, the La Liga and the domestic cup competition in Spain and has been an integral part of the squad in Spain for a long time now.
But in this time, his former team, Manchester United, has just not been able to maintain their place at as one of the European giants with their performances in the last few seasons. After Sir Alex Ferguson left, Manchester United were not able to replace him with a capable manager and failed to qualify for the Champions League twice in the last three years. They have spent record amounts of money to rebuild their squad but have just not been able to build a team that can challenge the best teams in the country and Europe in recent times.
The Portuguese international, who has now also lifted an international trophy, gave Manchester United some memorable nights over the years. He helped them to a Champions League victory, a couple of Premier League titles and took the club to the top of Europe in his time at the club. His absence has been severely felt by the club for almost a decade now and there is not one Manchester United fan that would not want the 31-year old back at the club. Such is his charisma and ability to make this happen. But where would United be had Ronaldo never made the switch to Spain?
In the last 7 seasons that he was away from the club, CR7 scored 241 La Liga goals, which is the most by any player in this time frame. Though he would not have accomplished such a feat in the slightly more competitive Premier League, he would have surely gone on to break a number of goal scoring records in the country. Had he stayed at the club, Ronaldo would have helped the Red Devils to at least another league title at the minimum while a Champions League victory was also not too far away.
He would have allowed the club, with all its money, to establish a squad that would have been the best in Europe and he would have helped the Old Trafford outfit dominate the league and Europe for years together. The 31-year old is a player who can win games single-handedly and would have changed the whole complexion of the Premier League had he stayed but the whole world would have missed the Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo battle, that is entertaining fans around the world.
The Portuguese international has achieved a lot since his move to Spain but given the amount of quality that he has, there is hardly any doubt that he would have reached that level of success even at Manchester United. And he would have taken the club along with him to the top. Do you think Cristiano Ronaldo could have achieved more had he stayed in the Premier League?