Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he was warned about the danger of signing Cristiano Ronaldo when he was Manchester United manager by his assistant, the current Ipswich Town manager, Kieran McKenna.
The legendary Portuguese forward rejoined the Red Devils in the summer of 2021, scoring 24 goals in his first season back at Old Trafford.
However, Solskjaer left his role as manager, replaced by Ralf Rangnick on an interim basis and ultimately Erik ten Hag, and things went downhill for Ronaldo.
After a bit-part role in the first half of the 2022-23 season he left for Al Nassr, criticising Ten Hag and the club as he departed quite acrimoniously.
Solskjaer admits that signing the veteran, who was 35 when he returned to Manchester United, was a bad move and says McKenna warned him about it at the time.
Speaking to an NRK podcast Solskjaer recalled McKenna analysing Ronaldo’s recent matches at Juventus at the time and was immediately worried about how he would impact the opposite end of the pitch.
‘How are we going to defend ourselves? That’s the first thing he says,’ Solskjaer said of the current Ipswich boss.
‘It was probably a wrong choice for all of us. But we felt it was the right decision then and there.’
Solskjaer looked back on his stint in charge of Manchester United, which against the odds lasted for 168 games from December 2018 until November 2021, and although it finished with no trophies, he is pleased with what he achieved.
‘I am proud of what I did,’ he said. ‘I have to say, I think it was a lot of good, and we were on our way to something very good.
‘We came third and second, got a number of semi-finals, and unfortunately, we lost that final [against Villarreal].
‘That’s how I think about it, if we had won it, it could have been a completely different outcome.’
Ronaldo did not have much good to say about Ten Hag or Rangnick when he left for Saudi Arabia, but he was full of praise for Solskjaer.
In his memorable Talk TV interview with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo said: ‘I love Solskjaer. I think he was a top person because what I keep inside my heart, it’s the heart of the persons. And Ole for me, is a top person… It’s hard. It’s hard to assume [the role] after Sir Alex Ferguson, but I think he did a good job for sure.
‘You need much more time. But I never doubt that you’re going to be a good coach in the future. But it was a good experience. I was, I was so pleased to work with him even for a short period.’
