Kieran McKenna had doubts over Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjær reveals

Ole Gunnar Solskjær has revealed that his assistant coach Kieran McKenna had doubts over Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United in 2021.

Manchester United re-signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus over three years ago in a blockbuster move that shocked the footballing world.

The United legend looked like he might have been signing for rivals Manchester City until a last-gasp move from those at Old Trafford to secure a shock reunion.

It seemed like the five-time Ballon d’Or winner would help Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, who finished second in the season beforehand, to go onto win the Premier League.

However, things did not work out as expected. Despite Ronaldo scoring 18 league goals in the 2021/22 campaign, United finished the season in seventh and Solskjær was sacked in November.

In hindsight, many have questioned the decision to sign Ronaldo while United were in desperate need of reinforcements in the midfield area.

Now, Solskjaer has revealed that Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna, who was part of his coaching team, had reservations about signing Ronaldo before the deal was finalised.

Speaking on a podcast with Norwegian outlet NRK, Solskjaer explained how McKenna analysed Ronaldo’s last six matches at Juventus after hearing about the potential transfer.

However, after reviewing the footage at Carrington, McKenna suggested that United should have instead focused on strengthening a different area of the pitch.

“How are we going to defend ourselves? That’s the first thing he says,” Solskjær recalled.

“It was probably a wrong choice for all of us. But we felt it was the right decision then and there.”

While things didn’t work out in the end, Solskjær still managed to lead United to back-to-back top three finishes in the league and was a penalty kick away from winning European silverware for the club.

“I am proud of what I did,” he added. “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.”

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