Cristiano Ronaldo made his much-anticipated return to Manchester United in 2021 after more than a decade away from England, but his second stint didn’t go nearly as well as the first. Years after his departure, United captain Harry Maguire has made a bold statement on the “disappointing” nature of the Portuguese legend’s comeback.
After three years at Juventus, Ronaldo returned to United for the 2021-22 season, rejoining one of the clubs where he had left a lasting mark. The reception from fans was electric. With the Red Devils having finished second in the previous campaign, expectations were sky-high that Ronaldo could be the final piece needed to reclaim the Premier League title. However, the season didn’t unfold as planned.
Despite Ronaldo scoring 24 goals in 38 appearances, United were knocked out in the Champions League round of 16 and finished sixth in the league, settling for a Europa League spot. Tensions escalated with the arrival of Erik ten Hag, who sidelined Ronaldo due to tactical incompatibility, ultimately leading to an abrupt departure midway through the 2022-23 season.
In a conversation with club legend Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel, Maguire criticized the team’s failure to make it work with Ronaldo: “It was just so disappointing how it ended and how we couldn’t find a way to perform with him in the team. He was performing, he was scoring goals, it was crazy. I don’t know how many he scored that year. We were rubbish and he was still scoring goals, so it just shows how good he is.”
The defender also reflected on the team’s tactical struggles after Ronaldo arrived. “We had some great players, don’t get me wrong, but it was all about pressing and working to a tactic and working to a shape, and when to jump and when to stay. And obviously Cristiano came in and we just didn’t adapt well enough for him, and you could just tell he was so upset and frustrated,” he stated.
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“We could play, we could press. The third season I was there it just didn’t work, and it had nothing to do with Cristiano because like I said, he was our best player that year by far. The boys and the tactics around him, it just didn’t work,” Maguire concluded. Ronaldo left United on sour terms but still managed to deliver goals in his return to Old Trafford.
Ronaldo reportedly used to ignore Maguire
Arriving from Leicester City in 2019 as the most expensive defender in history at the time, Harry Maguire quickly earned the captaincy under then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. His leadership coincided with Ronaldo’s return, though reports suggest the Portuguese star wasn’t exactly inspired by Maguire’s words.
In January 2025, The Telegraph’s James Ducker reported that Ronaldo would roll his eyes whenever Maguire spoke in the dressing room. “The veteran Uruguay center-half Sebastián Coates, once of Liverpool, became a key pillar in Amorim’s Sporting side and the Portuguese coach appears to have earmarked a similar role for Maguire in the middle of his back three. No one is rolling their eyes in that dressing room anymore when Maguire speaks, as Cristiano Ronaldo was known to do,” Ducker wrote.
Since his return to Old Trafford, Ronaldo wore the captain’s armband just twice — first in January 2022 against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and then in November of that same year against Aston Villa. Despite his goal-scoring output, Ronaldo was never entrusted with the captaincy, and Maguire’s leadership seemingly failed to win over the Portuguese forward.
