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 22 - 41 of 61

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  1. i think van nistelroy was the best his record in front­ of goal was one of the best it was not matched by the­ moaner and has and will be hard to replace

    From Rob, on Fri 12 Jun 12:38AM

  2. I am a life-long supporter of Man U and feel very­ disappointed at losing Ronaldo. I am old enough to have­ seen the original Busby Babes and believe that never­ before have United had a player with the skill and pace­ of Ronaldo. There is no replacement for him. The other­ so called best players in the World ie. Kaka, Messi,­ Villa and so on do not have the bottle to ply their­ trade in the English Premiership because it will be too­ much like hard work for them. They are afraid of the­ competitive edge which they will face week in and week­ out. I would like to see their world rankings after a­ season or two in the EPL. For these reasons, I can not­ see Sir Alex being able to persuade any world class­ striker to step foot into Old Trafford. I hope I am­ wrong.

    From BRIAN, on Thu 11 Jun 11:56PM

  3. watch as Utd win a treble next season without Ronaldo­ as the Liverpoos are declared bankrupt

    From Andrew, on Thu 11 Jun 11:17PM

  4. Ribery will fill the void and he is a better team­ player than the winker.

    From Andrew, on Thu 11 Jun 11:15PM

  5. bring on ribery to man u

    From alvinmoorlah, on Thu 11 Jun 10:23PM

  6. No 15 The only reason your comment is on this page that­ i can think o is, you are advertising your TITS and MAN­ U are getting a good deal for there BIG TIT, Good Luck­ Ronaldo you are leaveing the Best team in the WORLD for­ a team with a more colourful History but none the less­ over priced Prima Donnas, lets see how many trophes and­ awards you have in 5yrs time with RM

    From Sandie, on Thu 11 Jun 10:16PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    LFC - REAL EUROPEAN LEGENDS
    Ronaldo is only one player­ in our team who is world class, lucky enough for us we­ have about 13 more world class players granted Ronaldo­ was the best. We have heard these cries from you scouse­ c.un.ts before when Beckham, Keane, Stamm, and Ruud­ left us. It only made us stronger and Fergie always­ found a replacement.
    If however Stevie G or Half boy­ half girl Torress ever left you shower of c.un.ts you­ would be surley f.uc.ke.d as they are LFC.
    Remember­ United now have £80mil plus Fergies annuall £40 mil so­ if i where another team in the premier league I would­ be even more worried now.
    Fergie knows exactly where he­ needs to invest in his squad.and he will only bring the­ best in.

    From Alan, on Thu 11 Jun 10:14PM

  8. Gr8 bit of business,but now we need to replace

    From jonomccoy, on Thu 11 Jun 9:50PM

  9. Ferguson last season stated he wouldn't sell a­ virus to Real Madrid. Looks like his board have­ overruled him and have sold for avarice.

    At least in­ Spain, Ronaldo's diving will reap the rewards, as­ refs over here were getting fed up with his­ play-acting.

    From Roddenberry, on Thu 11 Jun 9:44PM

  10. Now now!....lets please......cool down n go down­ history lane(wht i m going to say now is directed­ at.Liverpool,Arsenal,Chelsea fans in particular n­ others in general)...Man Utd is ­ Special....is....Family......No player is above the­ club......Never has been and never will be......NO­ doubt Ronaldo is out of this world.....but we have had­ players of immense calibre b4 n let them go......due to­ certain reasons.......My only sadness is that we will­ miss those remarkable skills.......period!.........So ­ a word of caution to the fans of the above mentiones­ clubs.....Dont Rejoy Too Soon.....................WE­ WILL GET OVER THIS HICCUP...AND MOVE. ON...AS WE HAVE­ ALWAYS DONE IN THE PAST..................So......Man­ Utd will be back next season with a resuffled­ team.....JUST AS STRONG JUST AS DETERMINED JUST AS­ CLOSE JUST AS COMMITED AS ALWAYS...........MANCHESTER­ UNTED RULES.

    From raj, on Thu 11 Jun 9:43PM

  11. As an MU fan for nearly 50 years I am glad he has gone­ as I feel he was a disruptive influence on the side and­ was becoming too big for his golden boots. The team is­ MU and Ronaldo and the back up boys. He sulked all this­ season and his output fell by 50%, take all the free­ kicks and penalties away and his record is less than­ what you think. There is no denying he is thw­ world's best on his day but the day's are­ becoming fewer and further between and I honestly­ believe he has lost his appetite. Just watch the team­ really gel now he has gone. £80,000,000 makes up for­ his departure and some. Good luck to him but I think MU­ held on for 1 season too long.

    From Anthony L, on Thu 11 Jun 9:42PM

  12. christano ronaldo is not worth £80 million so­ manchester united have done good buisness to rid­ themselves of an anyoing spoilt brat who was never­ comited to the club otherwise he would not have kept­ saying i want to join real madrid at the end of every­ season for the last 2 years. i hope he never gets­ another major trophy in his career and that all madrids­ big spending backfires and barcelona still dominate in­ spain

    From NICHOLAS S, on Thu 11 Jun 9:40PM

  13. darren fletcher is nowhere near the same bracket as roy­ keane and neither is michael carrick for that­ matter...great insult to keane

    From barryblue66, on Thu 11 Jun 9:37PM

  14. regardless of what people say, i think ronaldo will be­ greatly missed, call him a diver or anything but his­ statistics are far much better than those of lampard,­ gerrard and fabregas who are central players but­ ronaldo operated from the wings mostly. his number of­ goals and assists are remarkable and lets hope fergie­ will promote the youngsters from the reserves who­ deserve to be given a chance

    From chisomo, on Thu 11 Jun 9:35PM

  15. the most annoying thing with this article and the­ comments being made, is that people are not looking at­ the facts straight in frount of them.
    Yes ronaldo,­ beckham, van nistelrooy, cantona etc etc brought­ something to the club that really made a big­ contribution towards playing well and achieving­ titles.
    But yet we seem to forget that when a great­ player leaves it does not mean the end of the world for­ the club it just means we adapt, for example beckham­ brought his pin point crossing to the game which­ resulted in god knows how many goals, ronaldo is not­ known for this down the wing but yet we adapt to the­ players strengths you have for that season.
    I am pretty­ sure £80 million could get us Ribery keep tevez on and­ perhaps get a quality attacking centre mid that i think­ we lack and most likely adapt and still play well as we­ have done before and we will do again

    From Daniel, on Thu 11 Jun 9:32PM

  16. 24 and how many of them players do you think should be­ in your starting 11 ??? lol anyone can name kids but­ that bunch of fools will win you nowt

    From carlmarsden, on Thu 11 Jun 9:31PM

  17. well what great cheating diving whinging player he was­ good ridance now start playing the mans game

    From Martin, on Thu 11 Jun 9:30PM

  18. UTD IS BIGGER THAN ANY ONE PLAYER...RONALDO HAD PEEKED­ AND HE WON'T GET ANY BETTER...GLAD HE'S GONE­ AND WE DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO ALL THIS SPECUALTION­ ANYMORE.

    From L H, on Thu 11 Jun 9:28PM

  19. hahahahahahahaha at comment 18, just cos yer bitter­ over us whippin yer arses again and winnin the league.­ old and deterirating side?????? anderson, evans,­ gibson, da silva brothers, macheda, wellbeck, tosic,­ nani..... you say old??? hahahaha our kids took a good­ everton side all the way in an fa cup semi final and­ were unlucky to go out on pens. i think you need to­ take a look at yourself son lol

    From elliedonley, on Thu 11 Jun 9:23PM

  20. OMG the new decline starts.....I hope Man City wont­ become the new Chelsea and win 2-3 Premierships in a­ row....or Arsene may step in now...without Ronaldo we­ cannot score goals...

    GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED!!!!

    From serk0s, on Thu 11 Jun 9:21PM
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