The manager of Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes that the club’s returnee, Cristiano Ronaldo has all it takes to play into his 40s.
Solskjaer described the mentality of the 36-year-old Portuguese football icon since he returned to the club in August 2021 as spot on.
Recall that Cristiano Ronaldo first played for Manchester United between 2003 and 2009 before he left the Premier League club to play for Real Madrid for 9 years.
After becoming one of the most celebrated footballers in Spain, he decided to try out Italy by joining Juventus in 2018. He conquered the Italian Serie A by winning all the domestic titles available in the league including the league’s highest goalscorer and player of the season awards.
After three years at Juventus, the Portugal international decided to return to Manchester United for a two-year deal. Since his return, he has been phenomenal in terms of his goalscoring form.
In two Premier League games, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored three goals. He has also scored a goal in one UEFA Champions League appearance for Manchester United.
Apart from his impact on the pitch, both the coaching crew at the club and his teammates hardly fail to talk about how well Ronaldo takes care of himself through the food he eats and rigorous training.
Due to that, it is believed that the 5 time Ballon d’Or winner would be the next player at Manchester United after Ryan Giggs to play into his 40s.
Ahead of the Manchester United Premier League game between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Old Trafford which is scheduled to kick off at 12:30 on Saturday, September 25, coach Solskjaer noted that he would not be surprised if Ronaldo plays football beyond his 40th birthday.
The coach said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if he still played when he was 40, not at all, because of the way he looks after himself.
“He has put every single ounce of energy and effort into becoming the player he is and has been, so he deserves every single little plaudit that he gets for his physical state.
“What’s more impressive is when you have achieved as much as he has, he’s still as hungry. His mentality is still absolutely spot-on and that’s a desire from inside that he’s going to keep going until his head says, ‘no, I’ve given everything now’.
“Hopefully it will last a few more years. Linford Christie was quite an age when he won his gold as well (Christie won the Olympic 100m in 1992 at the age of 32), so age is never a problem.”
Cristiano Ronaldo is still among the quickest players in the Premier League
The Manchester United coach, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has stressed that despite how advanced Cristiano Ronaldo is in age, he is still one of the quickest players in the Premier League.
In his prime, Ronaldo has a trademark of breaking any defense with his pace on the ball. Though his age has reduced the tendency of making that happens, he still shows flashes of that once in a while.
Aside from that, one of the criticisms against the 36-year-old football icon is that he hardly tracks back to support his team’s defense. But coach Solskjaer has a different perspective on that.
“He’s still one of the quickest players in the league and I’m still happy with his physical condition”, Solskjaer said.
“But of course he’s back into the Premier League and there’s maybe more intensity than the Italian and the Spanish leagues, so we’ll have to manage his workload.
“But he’s there to score goals, of course, and to create goals.”
