Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United created problems in dressing room, admits Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

insists he doesn’t regret signing for in 2021, but admits the forward’s return to the club caused problems in the dressing room.

United signed Ronaldo for £12m from in 2021, beating Manchester City to his signature.

The Red Devils finished second in the Premier League the previous season and finished runners-up in the Europa League, after losing to Villarreal in the final.

Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho joined the club earlier in the summer, and Edinson Cavani had been convinced to stay for a further year.

But United were presented with the chance of signing Ronaldo late in the window, and Solskjaer sanctioned his arrival without hesitation.

While Ronaldo’s return was heralded, things quickly unraveled at Old Trafford and Solskjaer was sacked just three months later.

And, while the Norwegian says he has no regrets over signing Ronaldo, he admits it unnerved other players.

‘Cristiano is different to Antony Martial who was up front, or whether we would play Mason or Marcus up front,’ Solskjaer said on the , sponsored by SkyBet.

‘Edinson Cavani was the one that suffered the most when Cristiano came in – we’d played and got Edinson into a certain way of understanding the way we played. Cristiano – when you know him and speak to him, he wanted to play three out of four games, he realised he’s getting older as well. But when you leave him out once, he’s not happy!’

‘[With the ball, with him in the team, it was no problem. Without him [pressing], we had to change a little bit the different roles we’d gotten used to. We were one of the highest pressing teams before [Ronaldo joined]. We let Dan James go when Cristiano came in, and they’re two different types of players. It was the right decision to make for me – it didn’t turn out to be the right one.”

‘Part of signing  was getting that passion from him, but that did have its complications. You’ve got Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, who can learn from Cristiano as he’s the best, the most disciplined and he’s been the best player in the world, and you think he’s going to help them.

‘When he arrived at the club, he told me to start him for three games in a row, and then put me on the bench for the fourth game, but he’s so passionate so when I did that, he didn’t like it.’

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