Manchester United bolstered their squad in style over the summer, landing Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in a big-money deal.
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Paul Pogba believes Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford will ‘raise the level’ of Manchester United. The Portuguese superstar has completed his return to the Red Devils after 12 years for a reported GBP 19.5 million transfer fee. He had left Manchester United in 2009 to join Real Madrid for a then record transfer fee of GBP 80 million before moving to Juventus in 2018.
Pogba, who also returned to United five years ago after leaving for Juventus as a teenager in 2012, said that Ronaldo’s return is beneficial for the squad to train with a ‘great player’ who has a wealth of ‘experience’.
“It’s always a pleasure to play with the best. It’s also a plus for the players to be able to train with a great player. He’s going to raise the level of the team,” said the 28-year-old in an interaction with Telefoot, via Get Football News France.
Recently, Ronaldo became the highest-scoring player in international football history with his 110th goal for Portugal on Wednesday. The 36-year-old scored in the 89th minute against Ireland, to move ahead of Iran’s Ali Daei before scoring a stoppage-time winner.
Ronaldo was honoured by Guinness World Records for his achievement.
Speaking previously to Sky Sports, Pogba also said that Ronaldo’s ‘experience’ would help point Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men in the right direction for the 2021-2022 season.
“Everybody knows [what Ronaldo brings]. He’s already a legend in this club and he’s coming back, so obviously it’s huge for us, for the club. He’s going to bring his experience, his quality and obviously when he comes the level [of the team] goes up,” said the footballer.
Pogba will play alongside Ronaldo for the first time in his career this season, and it is believed that they could form a very good partnership. The Frenchman has got a good range of passing and enjoys the ability to find the strikers with his precise defence-splitting passes.
Ronaldo is a good goal poacher, probably the best in the world. He can time his attacking runs to perfection and has the knack of getting into goal-scoring positions. Therefore if they can develop a camaraderie quickly, it will certainly be beneficial to Manchester United’s title aspirations.
Meanwhile, Pogba has already registered five assists in three 2021-22 Premier League games so far and he has got a track record of raising his game when playing alongside quality strikers, having performed exceptionally well with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Both Pogba and Ibrahimovic arrived at Old Trafford ahead of the 2016-17 season and performed very well before the Sweden international suffered an ACL injury.
Manchester United finished the last Premier League season as runners-up to champions Manchester City and they will be hoping to dethrone the city rivals this time around.
United have been fairly busy during the summer transfer window, which concluded last week and have made some very good signings. The likes of Jordan Sancho, Raphael Varane are the big names to come in. Now, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s big task would be to manage the star-studded team. Balancing a squad filled with the likes of Pogba, Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood and more will put Solskjaer’s man-management skills to the test.
