Why MLS Retirement Plan Could Make Perfect Sense For Man Utd's Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo has long been linked with an eventual move to MLS but could this summer be the perfect time for it to happen?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s second coming at Manchester United started with a bang but it is in danger of fizzling out - as is his brilliant career if he stays beyond another transfer window.

United were hot off winning a third straight Premier League title in 2009 when Ronaldo, who was the reigning Ballon d’Or winner at the time, waved goodbye to Old Trafford to join Real Madrid.

Twelve years and four more Ballon d'Ors later, hopes were high that Ronado could help restore United to the peak of English football when he returned as the headline signing in a summer transfer window that also saw Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane arrive.

Hope turned to hysteria when Ronaldo scored three goals in his first two Premier League appearances. After Ronaldo-inspired wins over Newcastle and West Ham, United looked like serious title contenders in mid-September. They were the division’s unbeaten leading scorers and three points clear of neighbors Manchester City.

But since then, reality has hit and it is not a reality that Ronaldo will tolerate.

"In my heart, I don't accept that our mentality be less than being in the top three," GOAL quoted Ronaldo as saying in January - a month which ended with United nine points below the top three and NINETEEN short of leaders City.

He added: "I don't want to be here to be in sixth place, or seventh place, or fifth place. I'm here to try to win, to compete."

Despite referencing the top three, Ronaldo is committed to being number one. He has won 32 team trophies to date and only endured one trophy-less season since 2005. If the current campaign ends without silverware for United, Ronaldo will have to seriously consider his future.

Ronaldo has just under 18 months left on his current contract with United, but it is how long he has left in his career that will be of even more concern to the man himself.

The iconic forward, who is celebrating his 37th birthday this weekend, has built a remarkable portfolio of record-breaking success but how that portfolio is concluded will matter a great deal to an artist like Ronaldo. He is a man who clearly cares deeply about his public perception.

Cristiano Ronaldo is 37 this weekend :: IMAGO/Zac Goodwin

Although Ronaldo is an athlete with superhuman levels of fitness, the clock is ticking. Speaking in 2019, he ambitiously suggested via Sky Sports that he could possibly "play up to 40 or 41". He will be 41 at the end of the 2025/26 European football season.

But will Ronaldo have waved goodbye to European club football by then? You have to think a move away from the continent he has already conquered five times is more than likely.

A switch to the States has long been mooted for Ronaldo. "I probably will end up in America", he once told former Portugal and United teammate Nani, who relayed those words to ESPN. Nani himself had a fairly fruitful spell in the MLS, scoring 28 goals in 77 games for Orlando City between 2019 and 2021.

This summer could well be the perfect time for Ronaldo to join MLS, with his career in need of a reboot.

His return to United has not been a total disaster. Despite United's below-par team performance, Ronaldo has impressed in flashes and is the club's leading scorer this season. But his numbers are very modest by own his lofty standards. His goal-to-game return is lower than it has been for 15 years.

The Premier League is no longer a division he can dominate. Major League Soccer is.

Ronaldo wants to be the focal point of his team. He is at his best when a team is built around him. Neither Ole Gunner Solskjaer nor Ralf Rangnick were prepared to oblige this at Old Trafford this season, but every MLS franchise would do so gleefully.

This VIP treatment would lay the platform for Ronaldo to chase more personal glory as well as team success. Carlos Vela's MLS record of 34 goals in a season is just the sort of target Ronaldo could eye to stay extra motivated.

On the face of it, LA, New York or Miami, home of David Beckham's Inter Miami, look like the most fitting destinations for someone of Ronaldo’s celebrity status. But such is the strength of the CR7 brand, whichever US team were to sign him would instantly become the most popular soccer side in the country. Because Ronaldo is not only a soccer superstar. He is a household name with a diverse army of fans… and more Instagram followers than any other human being in the world.

Due to his profile and ability to revolutionize Stateside soccer, the MLS as a league would move heaven and earth to facilitate his arrival wherever Ronaldo saw his future.

Ronaldo would only join a team with genuine title hopes though. Therefore, a mid-season US arrival could make perfect sense. United's English season ends in May, just weeks before the MLS transfer window opens. By that point it will be clear which franchises are in good shape and which should be avoided.

An MLS Cup and a Golden Boot in 18 months would constitute a successful project for Ronaldo. But were he to move to the States this summer and stay just beyond that aforementioned age of 41, Chris Wondolowski's all-time MLS goals record of 171 could even be a possible, albeit sensational, target. Not bad for a retirement plan.