Man Utd legend shockingly claims Cristiano Ronaldo should have joined Man City in 2021 after seeing CR7 damage his reputation during second spell at Old Trafford

After becoming one of the world's best players at United between 2003-09, a 36-year-old Ronaldo headed back to Old Trafford for a second spell that ended up being much less fruitful. The Portuguese was strongly linked with Manchester City in August 2021 but ended up re-signing for the Red Devils instead - something ex-player Gary Pallister thinks was a mistake.

The legendary ex-United defender told Betvictor: "Cristiano Ronaldo will never be forgotten for what he did in his first spell. But then again, he left. The second spell, I never thought it was a good idea for him to come back at that time. Looking at it from afar, he would have been far better off signing, if indeed Man City were interested, for City. I think he would have gone on to score a lot of goals for Man City if he'd have gone there. I think he chose the wrong time to come back to Manchester United. It would have tugged on the heart strings, no doubt, coming back to a place that he loved playing at. But we weren't the team for Cristiano to go into. We weren't good enough, we weren't going to create him the chances because he's a player that plays in the box and he comes alive in the box and Man City would have got him into them areas and he would have scored the goals – we needed more from Cristiano at Manchester United and I don't think he was capable of doing the running that he did in his pomp. I just think it was the wrong time for Cristiano to come back to Manchester United and it probably has affected that reputation that he built up. But looking at the club right now, you can understand his frustrations at the time."

The United that Ronaldo left in 2009 for Real Madrid was very different from the one he re-joined 12 years later. United's dominance of the Premier League was gone, and their powers were certainly on the wane during the ex-Juventus star's second stint there. While he still scored 27 goals in 54 games for the Red Devils, it could be argued that the veteran was not the best fit for the team, and his contract was terminated in November 2022 after an explosive fallout with then-manager Erik ten Hag.

Ex-Sporting CP star Ronaldo, now 40, ended speculation over his Al-Nassr future by signing a lucrative two-year deal with the Saudi Pro League side earlier this summer. Now, the Portugal international is stepping up preparations for the new season.