Will Cristiano Ronaldo launch Manchester United takeover after ownership ‘hint’ and ‘fix’ message? | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo using Saudi links to buy a 25 per cent stake in a Spanish second-tier club is obviously his first step towards owning Man Utd.

Perhaps Wharton will be the first signing he sanctions at Old Trafford – but only if Man Utd aren’t led ‘down the garden path’ by Crystal Palace like Spurs were.

Mainly we’re just furious we missed the Ronaldo ‘hint’ about him launching a Man Utd takeover.

Civil Whar

Samuel Luckhurst has dedicated his Sun column to discussing the future of Adam Wharton, and how ‘those who watched him regularly at Blackburn are adamant’ he ‘would be “perfect”‘ for Man Utd.

It’s a strange thing to be ‘adamant’ over. And are these unnamed people executives, coaches, players, fans or just the enduring spirit of Jack Walker?

In any event, we are told that if Man Utd wish to extract Wharton from Crystal Palace this summer, they ‘face a tricky task after Eze Arsenal transfer saga’.

It is a claim backed up by these three paragraphs on Palace owner Steve Parish:

It sounds like Levy led himself ‘down the garden path’ by offering a £40m for a player with a £60m release clause who was ultimately sold for £67.5m when that expired.

Of course Parish ‘quietly negotiated’ with Arsenal when the alternative was to wait a couple more weeks for Levy to emerge with his usual deadline-day nonsense.

The lesson for Man Utd: it will indeed be ‘tricky’ to sign Wharton if they decide to ‘mischievously’ bid £20m under the asking price. Thank f*** Spurs were there to teach them.

Gordon? Bin it

Elsewhere in the world of transfer exclusive from The Sun, Arsenal want to sign Anthony Gordon this summer.

Here is Charlie Wyett with a handy explainer on how transfers work:

Arsenal could sign Gordon if they offer Newcastle enough money – maybe don’t lowball them by £20m – and the player wants to join them.

More as we get it.

Crist on a bike

Exceptional work from the Daily Mirror website in taking the news of Cristiano Ronaldo’s investment in Almeria and finding the Man Utd angle that all football news stories require before being published.

You might already have figured that despite appearing in quote marks, the only use of the word ‘fix’ in the entire article comes from the Mirror themselves and not Ronaldo.

There are some Ronaldo quotes roughly along the same lines of him ‘hinting’ he could sort his former club out. Kind of. But also not really whatsoever.

Back in December 2024, Ronaldo did say: “The problem of Man Utd is the same. The problem is not always the coach. It’s much more than that. If I will be the owner of the club, I will make things clear and adjust things that are bad there.”

And honestly it’s a wonder Sir Jim Ratcliffe hasn’t tried that. It feels like a massive oversight not to have made things clear and adjusted things that are bad there. Are INEOS stupid?

Hints meet

You thought that’d be the last of the Ronaldo stuff, didn’t you? How embarrassing. You also might well be stupid, dear reader. You should take over Man Utd.

It seems someone else will get there first, mind.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo drops Man Utd return hint as he buys minority stake in club’ is a Daily Express website headline which, if anything, undersells this line contained within:

It ‘could’. It won’t, unless Ronaldo exploits the same sort of Saudi backdoor situation which has allowed him to purchase a non-controlling stake in a second-tier club in Spain. Which, again, won’t happen.

But still, there is obviously interest in suggesting that Ronaldo buying 25 per cent of Almeria is the first step towards an end goal of him owning actual Manchester United Football Club:

‘Cristiano Ronaldo’s Man United hint as he buys 25 per cent stake in club’ – Manchester Evening News.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo’s staggering net worth as he buys stake in club after Man United claim’ – Manchester Evening News.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo’s Man Utd hint and huge net worth revealed after he buys stake in club’ – Daily Mirror website.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo buys 25 per cent stake in club after hinting he could ‘fix’ Man Utd’ – Daily Mirror website.

‘Man Utd news: Player’s transfer request ‘rejected’ as Cristiano Ronaldo buys stake in club’ – Daily Mirror website.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo buys 25% stake in club after Man Utd ownership comments’ – Daily Star website.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo’s jaw-dropping net worth after Man Utd hint and buying stake in club’ – Daily Express website.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo buys stake in club after hinting how he would ‘fix’ Man Utd’ – Daily Express website.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo buys 25% stake in Almeria after Manchester United ownership hint’ – Birmingham Live.

It is obviously just a massive coincidence that such opportunistic, deliberately obtuse headlines all emanate from outlets within the same Reach stable, all of whom wish to pretend that Ronaldo saying he would “make things clear and adjust things that are bad there” is in any way a ‘hint’ he will one day sod the Glazers off into the sea.

But time is of the essence, so we must play a quick game of ‘Ask a simple question…’

‘Cristiano Ronaldo takes first steps into football ownership – could Manchester United be next?’ – SportsMole.

Pearce-ing insight

It feels like the Daily Mirror website is missing a few words at the end of a headline of ‘Man City could hand Pep Guardiola a new job once his exit is confirmed’. Like ‘according to the vague thoughts of Stuart Pearce’.

Mediawatch has all the time in the world for musings like “personally, if I was City…”. But Pearce saying “I would just keep him there – you might even want to keep him there as a director of football afterwards” is a slight step down from ‘Man City could hand Pep Guardiola a new job once his exit is confirmed’.

They could. But they’ll probably have to make things a bit more formal than “I would just keep him there”.