St James’ Park has been mentioned as a possible next destination for Cristiano Ronaldo according to his agent. Ronaldo looks to have played his last game for Man Utd after a spate of fallouts with the club, and super-agent, Jorge Mendes, has reportedly made contact with the Magpies over a January move.
It would be a huge surprise if Eddie Howe would give the green light for a move for the Portuguese superstar, with the Newcastle boss always keen to stress that any potential signings must have the right personality and attitude to join a tight nit dressing room. Ronaldo’s recent exploits at Old Trafford have proven that those two traits may be lacking at this stage of his career. The 37-year-old has criticized his fellow players on a few occasions this season and was recently seen petulantly walking down the tunnel before the end of a match.
Howe, himself, recently played down the possibility of signing Ronaldo, although he did admit that the Red Devils legend is still a top-class player. Speaking before Newcastle’s 0-0 draw at Old Trafford earlier in the season, Howe said:
“He’s an outstanding player. If you look at his goal record last year, it was incredible. For me, the transfer has worked, it’s been a success. He scored some massive goals last year and some really late important goals in the Champions League. He’s still an outstanding player and should never be underestimated.
“We’re trying to provide long-term growth; we’ve got a longer-term vision. At the moment, we have quite an aging squad, so we probably need to invest in more young players. That’s probably a big part of our progression, really.
“We need to get the average age down, so it might not be a signing that we would necessarily look to make – but not under-estimating the quality of the player.”
via [shieldsgazette]
With Newcastle having splashed out €70 Million on Alexander Isak in the summer, and Callum Wilson scoring regularly again, signing Ronaldo is not likely to be top of the list in January, but as they say in football – never say never!