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 2 - 21 of 61

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. Eric Djemba Djemba not on the list? What about Jordi­ Cruyff? Kleberson? He was a world cup winner!

    From shujaahmad2004, on Thu 11 Jun 2:20PM

  2. I am an Arsenal fan so i am quite glad he has gone. The­ league will be a lot easier without such a magnificent­ player, but i am going to miss watching those stunning­ free kicks and graceful skills on Match of the­ day.

    WERE LUCKY THE LEAGUES STILL GOT­ FABREGAS!!!!!!!!!!

    From Rory C, on Thu 11 Jun 2:12PM

  3. NO MENTION OF JAPP STAM

    From Kim, on Thu 11 Jun 2:09PM
  4. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Goodbye ronaldo, you wont be missed in united.

    From Shitty M, on Thu 11 Jun 2:08PM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    fergie says i will never sell real madrid a­ virus.
    fergie says i will never sell to that­ mob.
    fergie says real are bullies.
    once again he talks­ bo**ocks.
    he`s just sold the greatest player ever to­ play for your club.
    where will you find a player that­ wins all them free kicks and pens( by diving ). and a­ player that scores over 30 goals a season, and also has­ about 10 assists? your won`t.
    so you can buy 4 goal­ teves, or villa, or benzema, etc but you won`t replace­ him with anyone else. all you have done is weaken a old­ deterirating side by letting him go.

    From LFC - REAL EUROPEAN LEGENDS., on Thu 11 Jun 1:58PM

  6. Great, now we can watch Premier League Football with­ out seeing him wimpering to the ref each week, bye bye­ Ronaldo........

    From Fred, on Thu 11 Jun 1:57PM

  7. I think deep down this was expected but I would have to­ sayif the Manager thought this was not best for club­ nhe would not be going as has been the case in the past­ with players which we thought were irreplaceable and­ the Manager has found gems to replace them so we have­ to trust the manager.With this trust and the new­ players which will becoming we will become stronger.We­ need a midfielder to compliment Fletcher &­ Carrickas sadly Giggs & Scholes are not what they­ used to be Anderson & Park are grafters but none of­ these are a proper holding player I would like to see­ Darren Gibson getting more of a chance & up­ frontNani tozik & the guy from Wigan have agreat­ incentive to perform and fill the gap left by Ronaldo­ plus buy BenzimaThanks for the memory Christiano I dont­ think you could have done anymore.
    Life goes on and I­ cant see anyone stopping us again domestically

    From jamesbuthlay, on Thu 11 Jun 1:45PM

  8. jaap stam

    From Jimmyrice man u are champs again, on Thu 11 Jun 1:39PM

  9. Shock; what shock? No coincidence that this all goes­ through while Fergie is on holiday, and everyone has­ switched off for the summer. Gives MU plenty of time to­ assess the situation and plan accordingly with­ 80million ay their disposal ifthey want it. I would say­ they knew this was on weeks ago and have played it just­ right. Yes Ronaldo was special but no one man makes a­ team. Be very interesting to see Madrids accounts in a­ couple of years, no doubt they will be back to the­ Spanish Government for a further handout just as they­ did a few years ago when they were in debt. Will­ Plattini be as savage woth the Spanish League re debt­ in football, I think not. Will Real win the Spanish­ League just because Renaldo is there. No. As we have 80­ million we could perhaps lend the scoucers a few bob to­ tie them over.Man U will go on to achieve Fergies dream­ of another title next year, efore he handsover the­ reigns.

    From carl c, on Thu 11 Jun 1:36PM

  10. Keane's heir is .... dun dun dun .... Darren­ Fletcher.... oh youre takin thePiss

    forgot about Stam­ on this list too

    From Bobo S, on Thu 11 Jun 1:24PM

  11. take the money and run

    From Derek A, on Thu 11 Jun 1:19PM

  12. qasim7uk
    You do not have a clue, park and anderson are­ not great on their day, they give away too much­ possession, they may run around like headless chickens­ but it gets us nowhere, and in rome ronaldo looked like­ the only person able to score for us, he was the one­ creating things! park and anderson have alot of­ development to go before i will welcome them into our­ squad, now ronaldo is off, i think we need a good young­ winger that no1 has heard of... who was ronaldo 7 year­ ago? whats to say there isnt another out there

    From JACK, on Thu 11 Jun 1:15PM

  13. Once a whore, always a whore, good riddance.

    From POP, on Thu 11 Jun 1:13PM

  14. Ferguson will use the money wisely as always and no­ doubt will find the right player for the job and put­ plenty of the cash back in the coffers too. One player­ never makes a team and Ferguson will gel whoever­ replaces Ronaldo into the team. the world will see­ plenty more great players before Ronaldo hangs his­ boots up. and United can sell them to Real Madrid too!

    From DAVID, on Thu 11 Jun 12:54PM

  15. Michael I dont agree with you at all. There wasnt too­ much wrong with the tactics in the final. Park has been­ one of Utds best players last season and Anderson on­ his day is brilliant. If we had scored in the 1st 10­ mins you wouldnt have said tactics were wrong. Everyone­ has a shocker and Ronaldo was playing for himself and­ not for the team in Rome. Tevez has a good work rate­ but not enough skill or goals per game to guarantee­ starting every game, fact.

    From qasim7uk, on Thu 11 Jun 12:53PM

  16. Just goes to show you the real talent of Fergie. There­ aren't many managers or teams who could afford to­ lose such players yet continue to develop talent and­ once again dominate.
    Ronaldo leaving will be a huge­ blow for Utd in the short term, but if they bring in­ the right replacement then I can't see any problem.

    From vulcanraven01, on Thu 11 Jun 12:50PM

  17. LETS HOPE THAT NOW MAN UNITED CAN GET THE BEST OUT OF­ ROONEY TEVES AND BERBATOUV THEY COULD BE THE FRONT­ THREE AND MAYBE MAN UNITED COULD GET ONE OR TWO­ MIDFIELDERS IN A GRAFTER AND A CREATIVE SPARK SO MAYBE­ VALENCIA OR RIBERY YAYA TOURE
    THEY WILL STILL BE A­ FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH
    AND THANKS FOR YOUR­ CONTRIBUTION RONALDO I HOPE YOU REMEMBER THE CLUB THAT­ MADE YOU AND SAY GOODBYE TO THE FANS

    From reddevils_4life99, on Thu 11 Jun 12:46PM

  18. Easy to say after the event, but I knew that Cristiano­ was going as soon as he was quoted that the tactics­ were wrong for the final in Rome.

    He was right and­ United never played like United do... Park and­ Anderson do not belong in United shirts and you cannot­ expect to beat Barcelona playing only 9 top class­ players.

    We had Scholes and Tevez sat on the bench...­ who really thinks that Park and Anderson are bettet­ than them ?

    Sorry to see you go Cristiano... thanks­ for all you did and good luck with Real ..

    Michael

    From Michael J, on Thu 11 Jun 12:40PM

  19. That is why Ferguson is the best in the world.. He can­ develop any player that is suitable at Manchester.. The­ better left, the best is rising.. I agree with Ronaldo­ left for Real Madrid..

    Glory2 Man United!!

    From Ben, on Thu 11 Jun 12:40PM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    KAKA & RONALDO & ROBBEN & HIGUAIN oleeeee­ GALACTICOS!! HALA MADRID !!!

    From chechenr, on Thu 11 Jun 12:39PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account