Ron link is a win-win for all concerned
WHY UNITED AREN’T WORRIED BY RUMOURS OF AN EXIT
THERE have been so many departures at Chelsea the offices at Stamford Bridge are possibly sparser than at Old Trafford.
Bruce Buck and Marina Granovskaia left the building last week and yesterday morning Petr Cech vacated the technical and performance advisor role.
All three are acolytes of Roman Abramovich. Chelsea’s new American owner Todd Boehly has already been more hands-on than the Russian and his compatriot Premier League owners across the Atlantic.
Boehly’s rendezvous with Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes evokes memories of Ed Woodward gladhanding the game’s most eminent agent seven years ago.
The Reds’ former executive vice chairman arranged for Mendes’s daughter to undertake work experience at United, negotiated deals for his clients Angel di Maria, Radamel Falcao and Jose Mourinho, and hugged the agent in the Old Trafford directors’ box moments before Ronaldo’s homecoming debut.
After only the seventh trophyless season in the last 20 years, Chelsea have already cut their losses on their most expensive signing in Romelu Lukaku and their new owner is flexing his muscles.
When you think of Mendes, you think of Ronaldo. Chelsea associating themselves with the game’s greatest goalscorer is bound to send Boehly’s approval ratings north.
The reports of Ronaldo cropping up in discussions between Boehly and Mendes on Saturday spurred United into action: he is not for sale. Reds sources believe there are innumerable Mendes clients likelier to join Chelsea than Ronaldo.
Like Abramovich 19 years ago, Boehly is prepared to unnerve the competition.
Chelsea bought players of interest to United – Damien Duff and Joe Cole – and a Reds player in Juan Sebastian Veron for £15m in 2003. They would continue to blow any competition out of the water for the next three years.
United with Veron was akin to a celebrity at the Met Gala clad in the priciest purchases on the market that were meretricious and unworkable for everyday wear. Veron was a striking diamond but flimsy.
“The feeling we got was they (Chelsea) had been talking to him,” Sir Alex Ferguson said on United’s 2003 pre-season tour of the States. “I put it to him to see if he wanted to go and he never gave me an answer.”
Veron failed to play 90 minutes in the last two months of his second season with the Reds and he turned out 14 times for Chelsea, a luxury the then Stamford Bridge boss Jose Mourinho could not afford.
Veron was loaned, and then sold, to Inter Milan after one campaign.
United supporters embraced Veron, chanting ‘Ar-gen-ti-na’ and “Veron, Veron”. He retains a cult status, his last act an audaciously awesome assist for Ruud van Nistelrooy against Juventus in New Jersey.
Ronaldo is indispensable. Erik ten Hag sees him as a certain starter, flanked by creative wingers in a balanced front three.
New boss Erik ten Hag favours the flexibility of Ajax’s Antony rather than an out-and-out No.9, with Marcus Rashford possibly set for a
trial through the middle in pre-season. Once a Spanish sports daily reported Ronaldo’s reputed unhappiness at United’s market inactivity, there were follow-ups in Portugal and Italy.
The player has been linked with Roma and Sporting Lisbon – and Mourinho is believed to find Roma’s links with Ronaldo to be particularly ridiculous.
Mendes is dutybound to keep his client relevant - and coveted.
United players were still in the Vicarage Road dressing room after the Reds’ 4-1 defeat at Watford last season and Mendes had already demanded assurances from Ed Woodward that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would finally be going.
The next morning, the Norwegian was gone.
Spurious speculation surrounding Zinedine Zidane replacing Solskjaer was leaked to appease Ronaldo, who won three Champions Leagues under the Frenchman at Real Madrid.
Boehly’s face time with Mendes benefits all parties. Chelsea look as though they mean business, Mendes has made Ronaldo newsworthy and United are responding to the news promptly.
His is a departure they cannot entertain.