Ronaldo and Messi

During this summer’s transfer window, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, arguably two of the best players in the history of football, both moved away from Juventus and Barcelona, respectively. Cristiano moved back to where he first started making headlines, Manchester United, while Lionel moved to France giants Paris Saint Germain.

Cristiano Ronaldo:

Ronaldo moved from Turin to Manchester with the ‘Red Devils’ paying a fee of about 15M€. The Portuguese International completed 3 seasons with the black and white stripes, scoring a total of 101 goals with the ‘la Vecchia Signora’. Ronaldo’s time in Italy can be looked back upon as a success through individual achievements, even getting Serie A top scorer in his last season. Collectively though, it was a bit of a struggle for the forward as he failed to win the Serie A title in his last season with ‘Juve’ and faced UEFA Champions League disappointment all three seasons losing to the likes of Ajax, Lyon, and Porto in earlier stages than the team would’ve liked. Ronaldo also struggled to settle in with the team’s system. INn all three seasons he played, Juventus had three different managers with Allegri, Sarri and Pirlo. His somewhat difficult time also has to do with the fact that whether we like it or not, Cristiano is ageing. He came in from Real Madrid back in 2018, after having won 3 consecutive UCL titles with ‘Los Blancos’. He is now 36 years old as he has joined Manchester United and is enjoying a flying start to life back in England. Having scored 5 goals in his first 6 games, with what seems to be a struggling United team with manager Ole Gunnar Solksjær facing difficulties at the start of the season. With Ronaldo back to where he won his first Ballon D’or, time will tell if he will be able to replicate the past success, he has had with Manchester United.

Lionel Messi:

Messi left Barcelona this summer in a way I am sure he wouldn’t have liked to. After spending his whole career in Spain, joining the Catalan team when he was only 12 years old from Argentina, Messi was forced to leave the Camp Nou as Barcelona faces very severe debt. Last year, it had already been rumoured that Messi was leaving, even the Argentine had announced himself he was looking for a new team. Barça did not let him leave that year promising him that he would only be allowed to at the end of his contract. Skipping a year ahead and Messi had changed his mind, he wanted to stay in Catalonia. But Barcelona could not afford his wages as the club is 1 billion euros in debt. Because of this, Camp Nou’s greatest player ever left on a free to Paris, where he plays now for PSG. This is an end of an era for Spanish football, and the start of a new chapter for a now struggling Barcelona and a very promising Paris Saint Germain squad. The Argentine signed for PSG and wears the no. 30 shirt, the first number he wore at Barcelona. He is reunited with former teammate Neymar and is looking to win the Champions League again with what on paper looks like the best squad in the world. So far, he has had a somewhat underwhelming start for PSG having only one goal contribution through a goal vs Manchester City in the UCL. As of now, he has played a total of 4 games scoring just one goal at the Parc des Princes.