4490 days (or 387,936,000 seconds) since the 2009 Champions League final, and we are about to see the return of one of the entire sports’ biggest and best characters to English football and the Premier League following his shock return in the final few days of the transfer window. The final days of the transfer window went like a blur with some big moves happening, and the return of Cristiano Ronaldo is without a doubt the show stealer of deadline day.

Although we are coming out of an international break, Ronaldo showed his form with his performance against Ireland and on his arrival at United’s training complex, he’s already getting to work ahead of his expected debut against Newcastle in the coming days. While every man and his dog has had their say on this transfer, it undoubtedly enhances Manchester United and the whole league, as United’s attacking options rival almost any side in world football.

In this post, I’ll recap over where Ronaldo left off at United with his current stats for the Manchester side, before discussing what I predict we will expect from the return of CR7. And before you go any further, unlike many ridiculous pundit predictions, he will succeed and be a valuable asset, but in a different way than the man who left England 12 years ago.

Stats

In his 6 year spell at Manchester United between 2003-2009, Cristiano Ronaldo was simply remarkable, as he lit up the Premier League. His stats during this time were 292 appearances, bagging 118 goals across all competitions. Really, his stats weren’t even as dramatic as they had been at Real Madrid and Juventus, however his season in 2007-2008 is one of the best seasons that the Premier League has ever seen. In terms of honours, he is arriving at Old Trafford already the holder of 3 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 1 Community Shield, 1 Champions League and 1 Club World Cup trophies with the side. His honours record is above any of the existing players at the side and his experience of big games since then can only be a positive for those around him. Individually, he managed a Balon d’Or, FIFA World Player of the Year, Europe Golden Shoe, 2xPFA Player, 2xPL Player of the year, and PL Golden Boot winner award to name but a few. His return to the Premier League this time is in arguably a much more competitive environment, however he is already odds on favourite for the Golden Boot, and so could and probably will add to all of these stats and create even more history in the process. It’s an exciting time for sure.

What To Expect

It seems like the only people to have not seen Ronaldo play since he left England 12 years ago, is the UK pundits slating the transfer. We all know that he isn’t the electric winger doing a million stepovers each side, and has actually developed his game to be much more efficient and influential as a target man playing no.9 through the middle of the park. He is an out and out striker who jumps into life when there’s a sniff of a chance. This allows him to not need to backtrack and instead sit nicely on the halfway line waiting for a counter attack or to latch onto a through ball or decent cross in which he will almost always finish off. This is actually something that United have lacked, as although they have stacked attacking talents, the likes of Rashford, Martial, Sancho and even Greenwood have been played in a wide role rather than the central striker. Only Cavani and Greenwood to an extent are efficient enough to be the main striker, and having Ronaldo now in that role, there is flexibility for rotation and changes, as really a 36 year old Ronaldo, 34 year old Cavani and 19 year old Greenwood shouldn’t be playing 60+ games a season and expected to be scoring 50+. Instead, United are fortunate enough to have each player playing maybe 20-30 games a season and each should bag 15+ goals.

So, Ronaldo in attack will give United a central, more clinical threat in the way Cavani has over the last season or so. It gives them a central focal point which the wide players can play off of. Meanwhile, there is now more threat from crosses if Shaw and Wan-Bissaka can capitalise on this, and though balls from the passes of Bruno and Pogba have someone who will get on the end of them. It all gels on paper for Manchester United, and really it’s a very exciting time to have an unknown side expected to play super exciting attacking football, if they can all sing from the same sheet.

My personal expectation for this season from Ronaldo is to bag 20+ goals in all competitions at least. He will want to play every game to get those numbers up, so I do expect to see him in all competitions, even in bigger FA Cup and Carabao Cup games when many would expect him to be rested. His mentality puts him as one of the first names in the squad, so I expect to see plenty of the Portuguese attacker this season. My other prediction is that his influence will massively help the younger players around him, and we will see big assist numbers from Pogba and Bruno Fernandes as a result. After this season, I expect that Cavani will leave Manchester after perhaps not seeing as much football as he needs, and instead the Ronaldo effect will see United pull of next seasons biggest signing of Haaland to Old Trafford, as well… who doesn’t want to play with Ronaldo.

When Will He Return

The return is likely to happen in the Premier League match against Newcastle United, with a packed Old Trafford expecting to witness their second coming of Christ in a league game against Steve Bruce’s side. All the pieces are in place for the return, however it’s unknown whether Ole will be throwing him into the starting spot. We all know Ronaldo is in the top physical shape, and tactically slots straight into United’s side, however Ole has been known to steadily introduce new signings rather than throwing them straight in. Ultimately though, we know that, the money move is to get Ronaldo playing from the outset.

With that in mind, it will be 3pm at Old Trafford on Saturday 11th September, and although the UK is unable to actually watch the game live on TV (we will talk about that later), it will bring in a huge audience no doubt.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the return of one of the greatest players to grace Old Trafford’s turf, we predict big things.