Premier League - Ronaldo United's latest big exit

Eurosport - Thu, 11 Jun 17:16:00 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo is the latest in a long line of stars to leave Old Trafford in Sir Alex Ferguson's reign. We look at some more big exits.

2003 Manchester United David Beckham - 0

Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis

Ferguson caused uproar when he axed the above trio after United finished runners-up in the 1994/95 Premier League season. Their exit paved the way for Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and David Beckham to establish themselves and, despite claims that "you win nothing with kids", United won a domestic double the following season.

Eric Cantona

Having gone to the ends of the earth to keep the enigmatic Frenchman at Old Trafford after his kung-fu controversy, there was nothing Ferguson could do to change Cantona's mind when he decided to quit the game in 1997 aged 30. Although United lost their league title to Arsenal, they bounced back to win a remarkable treble in 1998/99 with Dwight Yorke partnering Andy Cole up front.

Peter Schmeichel

Possibly United's greatest goalkeeper, the Dane left for Sporting Lisbon in summer 1999 and later returned to the Premier League with Aston Villa and Manchester City. Attempts to replace him with, among others, Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi and Roy Carroll failed, but Edwin van der Sar eventually stepped into the breach in 2005 as a worthy successor to Schmeichel.

David Beckham (pictured)

Ronaldo's predecessor on the right wing for United left in similar circumstances. A breakdown in his relationship with Ferguson - accelerated by a stray football boot to the face - saw him sold to Real Madrid for £25m as the last of Florentino Perez's original 'Galacticos'. Ronaldo replaced him with aplomb and United have now won three consecutive Premier League titles.

Roy Keane

The fiery Irishman's departure was most important in its symbolism, since age and injury has reduced Keane to a shadow of his former self on the pitch. A series of rants against his own team-mates proved too much for Ferguson, who packed his captain off to Celtic. United signed Owen Hargreaves as replacement, but Keane's heir now seems to be one of the players he criticised, Darren Fletcher.

Ruud van Nistelrooy

The Dutchman's stunning record of 150 goals in 219 appearances made the decision to sell him to Real in 2006 particularly gutsy. Van Nistelrooy was another player to cross Ferguson, who used his exit to introduce a more mobile front line using versatile players like Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez. Van Nistelrooy scored 63 in 93 for Real before suffering the third major knee injury of his career.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 42 - 61 of 61

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  1. I SAY BRING RUUD BACK TO UNITED!!!!! BEST GOALHANGER IN­ THE WORLD!!!

    From endri t, on Tue 16 Jun 4:58PM

  2. Post#54 'nicandmart1' U r certainly not a­ united fan..... so Ssshhhhhh..... Dont think fergie is­ as replaceable as Ronaldo. Is there a better coach than­ him right now... that united can hire... Ur crazzzzy­ man ....

    From kabagambe, on Sat 13 Jun 2:46PM

  3. Man United may struggle next season as they rebuild and­ restrategise, assuming they bring in new players, just­ as they have to hold back to acclimatise Berbatov to­ the Man United way of playing the game. Hopefully I am­ wrong. I hope somebody could just step in and fit in­ quickly. But here's to the future. Go Man United.

    From cokrowinoto, on Fri 12 Jun 4:55AM

  4. For all you think Ronald's exit will hurt ManUre, I­ think its actually going to help ManUre win more games­ and titles. Rooney will be more domineering up front­ and will score many many goals. Can also see Maunure­ picking up A. Young, Zhirkov or Downing (on the cheap).­ what is worse they have have 80M (plus 120K per week)­ to play with. Liverpuke, Arse-anal and Chelski should­ be worried.

    From starman_123, on Fri 12 Jun 1:44AM

  5. Money, money, money, It is a rich-man's game

    From starman_123, on Fri 12 Jun 1:44AM

  6. No 55.You're not a United fan if you would like to­ see the back of Ferguson. Shame on you!

    From lukaszmarek, on Fri 12 Jun 12:28AM

  7. Let's buy Macherano from the 'pluds, we need­ him and they need the cash. Add Valencia & Benzema­ & we'll win everything next year! & let­ Tevez go too....I can run around scoring nowt for MUCH­ less money.....

    From optimus prime, on Thu 11 Jun 11:50PM

  8. im a utd fan and would not only be glad to see the back­ of ronaldo id also like to see the back of fergie too

    From N, on Thu 11 Jun 11:08PM

  9. well, with £80 million we will buy some good­ replacements, such as Benzema, Valencia and possibly­ Bojan or Ribery. People are quoting him as not selling­ them a virus, for £80, he isn't selling a player,­ he is robbing a club and making a reasonable sacrifice,­ smart move SAF, hopefully you will invest wisely unlike­ your pathetic over-paying rivals Man City.

    Utd for­ life
    Luke Elliff

    From luke.elliff, on Thu 11 Jun 10:58PM

  10. Above departures, what about Japp Stam?? Maybe the­ biggest mistake. As for Ronaldo, firmly agree Fergy has­ made the right decision. Still remeber when he turned­ up as a spotty little portugese wizzkid without a clue­ what the future held. Now he has turned into an­ arrogant git who thinks he's bigger/better than the­ club itself. We're not a one man team and we'll­ keep winning more without him.

    From ROBERT, on Thu 11 Jun 10:13PM

  11. ManU fans answer this. how come ferguson said he would­ not sell real madrid a virus and now he sold them hes­ best player. I would be absolutely embarrased if i was­ a manu fan

    From Raimo K, on Thu 11 Jun 9:58PM

  12. to comment 48. because he only has a year or two left­ in him.

    From Raimo K, on Thu 11 Jun 9:54PM

  13. Sir Alex Ferguson has the answers.

    From ogheneruemu o, on Thu 11 Jun 8:34PM

  14. I'm sure SFA already has someone lined up to­ replace Ronaldo. Then again..

    From Ace, on Thu 11 Jun 7:59PM

  15. nistelrooy is a consistent and has one of the best­ finishing in the world...i wonder why he's only­ worth 1.5m now!!!???

    From eevernc, on Thu 11 Jun 7:37PM

  16. Well done Alex Chick, another lousy article

    From Creaven91, on Thu 11 Jun 7:34PM

  17. It is indeed sad to see Ronaldo leave; he was a great­ player and won a lot of matches single handedly. No one­ can replicate what he did nor completely replace him.­ But United doesn’t just work in one dimension and im­ sure Ferguson has plenty of other strategies to keep­ United up as top dogs of Europe. Even though Ronaldo­ was great he was way to selfish, he wanted to be the­ star of the team and that didn’t leave much room for­ others to shine. Now it’s the dawn of a new era that­ will mark better team work and change in formation and­ strategies. It would be nice to see all 3 strikers­ Rooney, Berbatov and Tevez attacking up front instead­ of just 2. Its time for change at Old Trafford and I­ just hope it’s a good one.

    From Redman, on Thu 11 Jun 7:00PM

  18. Well Well Mr egg on your face ferguson who would never­ sell to that mob. Just another drunken rant was it.

    From D S, on Thu 11 Jun 6:40PM

  19. qoute, i will never do business with that MOB, i­ would,nt sell them a virus, oh how HOLLOW THOSE WORDS­ SOUND NOW, doe,s fergie really have all that control at­ the theatre of YAWNS?

    From TEVEZ, on Thu 11 Jun 5:54PM

  20. alan36 tut tut, bitter manc

    From TEVEZ, on Thu 11 Jun 5:46PM
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