Pep: Man City could miss out on CL qualification​​

Cristiano Ronaldo has said he believes Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior was unfairly snubbed for this year’s men’s Ballon d’Or award.

Speaking at the Globe Soccer Awards on Friday, Ronaldo said Vinícius deserved the prize over Manchester City‘s Rodri. Vinícius and his Madrid teammates boycotted the ceremony in Paris hosted by France Football magazine.

“In my opinion, he [Vinícius] deserved to win the golden ball [Ballon d’Or award],” Ronaldo said. “It was unfair in my opinion. I say here in front of everybody. They give it to Rodri, he deserved it too, but they should have given it to Vinícius because he won the Champions League and scored in the final.”

Vinícius was later awarded FIFA’s The Best men’s player award earlier this month and won Globe Soccer’s best men’s prize on Friday, while Barcelona star Aitana Bonmati won the women’s player of the year award, her latest such honour.

Ronaldo, who has won five Ballon d’Ors but was not shortlisted for this year’s prize, criticised France Football magazine.

“You know these galas, they always do the same thing,” he said.

Ronaldo then praised Globe Soccer, who named him Best Middle East Player of 2024 on Friday.

The Portugal international has scored 74 goals in 83 games since joining on a free transfer in January 2023 after leaving Manchester United.

Ronaldo took aim at his old club, saying the club is still struggling from issues stemming from more deep-rooted issues.

“The problem of Manchester United is the same,” he said. “The problem is not always the coach. It’s much more than that.

“If you have the fish inside and he’s sick and you take him out and you fix the problem and you put him again in an aquarium you will be sick again.”

Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that Manchester United‘s problems are not down to new manager Ruben Amorim, and believes he would be able to fix them if he was the club’s owner.

Amorim has lost five of his 10 games in charge of United — including four of the last five in the Premier League — and said ahead of the next game against Newcastle United that his job is not safe.

But Ronaldo, who scored 145 goals over two spells at United but has been critical of the club’s ownership among other things in recent years, has said his countryman is not to blame.

“The Premier League it’s the most difficult league in the world,” Ronaldo, now playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, said at the Globe Soccer Awards on Friday.

“All the teams are good, all the teams fight, all the teams run, all the players are strong. Football is different right now. There’s no easy games any more.

“I said this one and a half years ago, and I will continue to say it: The problem is not the coaches.

“It’s like an aquarium. If you have the fish inside and he’s sick and you take him out and you fix the problem and you put him again in an aquarium they will be sick again.

“The problem of Manchester United is the same. The problem is not always the coach. It’s much more than that.

“If I will be the owner of the club, I will make things clear and adjust what I think is bad there.”

Ronaldo’s comments followed him hinting at ownership of a “big club” in the near future.

“I’m not a coach. I’m never going to be a coach, president of the club? No. Maybe owner of the club,” he said.

“It will depend on the moment, the right opportunities.”

Asked if he had any in mind, Ronaldo cryptically responded: “Not yet. A few, maybe.”

But questioned about contact with the Glazers directly, Ronaldo said: “I’m still very young, I have so many plans and dreams ahead.

“But mark my words, I will be owner of a big club. For sure.”

Ronaldo left United in 2022 following a public fallout with Erik ten Hag and a TV interview where Ronaldo made a number of explosive claims, including that the owners — the Glazer family — “don’t care about the club.”

Since Ronaldo’s exit, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group have assumed control of football operations, while Ten Hag was sacked before the hiring of Amorim. But Ronaldo still feels problems persist.

Asked about Amorim, the Portugal forward was complimentary as he said: “He did a fantastic job in Portugal with my club Sporting. But the Premier League is a different beast, it’s a different league, it’s the most competitive league in the world.

“I knew it would be tough and they would continue the storm, but the storm will finish and the sun will rise. Fingers crossed things will be good with him and I hope the best for Manchester United because this is a club I still love.”

At the awards, Ronaldo was named Best Middle East Player of 2024 after a strong year in Saudi Arabia.

Arsenal need to find a Robin van Persie. That might be a touchy subject at the Emirates, where the former Gunners centre-forward is regarded with disdain rather than affection after leaving to join Manchester United for £24 million in 2012, but if Mikel Arteta’s team unearth a goal scorer to do for them what Van Persie did for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, the days of Arsenal as the Premier League‘s “nearly team” could be over.

Van Persie famously — or infamously, if you’re an Arsenal supporter — left the Emirates after growing tired of a repeated failure to win trophies. He signed instead for United, where his 26 goals in 38 league games delivered Ferguson’s last, and United’s most recent, Premier League title in 2012-13.

Sometimes one signing can make all the difference. Eric Cantona transformed United from mid-table also-rans to champions in 1992-93, and Van Persie had a similarly transformative effect 20 years later. After twice finishing as runners-up to Manchester City in the title race in 2022-23 and 2023-24, Arteta’s Arsenal now find themselves in the position that Ferguson’s United managed to escape by signing Cantona and Van Persie, especially with both Bukayo Saka (hamstring) and Raheem Sterling (knee) now facing “weeks” on the sidelines after being injured in recent days.

But while Arsenal’s lack of a reliable centre-forward has been an obvious problem for almost two years, they still haven’t addressed the issue.

City’s overall strength and superiority — not to mention the goals of Erling Haaland — would probably have denied Arsenal the last two titles whether or not Arteta’s side had a world-class centre-forward of their own. Yet with City in turmoil this season, Arsenal’s failure to properly bolster their attacking options in the summer looks like it will cost them another title, with Arne Slot’s Liverpool racing away at the top of table thanks in no small part to the 15 league goals already scored by Mohamed Salah.

Kai Havertz is Arsenal’s leading goal scorer in the league this season with just six goals, placing him joint-14th in the race for the Golden Boot. Saka is joint-22nd, with five. Had Arteta signed a proven goal scorer, those frustrating draws against Brighton, Fulham and Everton — as well as the failures to beat City and Liverpool — could have had a more positive outcome, and Arsenal might just be heading into 2025 with a much stronger chance of becoming champions for the first time since 2004.

But how easy is it really to find a modern-day Van Persie or Cantona? Or for Arsenal to turn back the clock and discover another Ian Wright, Nicolas Anelka, or Thierry Henry?

Arteta’s stubbornness over ability and character is perhaps why Arsenal did not take a chance on Ivan Toney last summer, prior to the England striker’s £40m move from Brentford to Saudi Pro League side Al Ahli. He arguably could have pushed harder to sign RB Leipzig‘s Benjamin Sesko or Sporting CP‘s Viktor Gyökeres, had he been truly convinced of the need for an out-and-out No. 9. However, when you are looking for the final piece of the jigsaw, it is understandable that standards and expectations are perhaps unrealistically high. And Arsenal’s situation is not helped by the state of the centre-forward market heading into 2025.

“Everyone is looking for a 20-goal a season centre-forward, but the best ones are at the biggest clubs and the rest are unproven,” a former Premier League sporting director told ESPN. “City have got Haaland, Bayern Munich have Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski is at Barcelona, and Real Madrid signed Kylian Mbappé on a free [from PSG]. Beyond that, you are taking gambles.

“Gyokeres and Samu Omorodion [FC Porto] are scoring lots of goals this season, but the Portuguese League is not strong enough to be sure of their ability to succeed in a top league. Darwin Núñez [who signed for Liverpool from Benfica] is an example of that.

“Look around Europe and see who the major nations are relying on for goals. France have Mbappe and England have Kane, and they’re both at elite clubs. Álvaro Morata has been Spain‘s main striker, but he failed at Chelsea; Cristiano Ronaldo is nearly 40 and still playing for Portugal; and Italy don’t have a striker. Other than Havertz, Germany have Timo Werner and Niclas Füllkrug, but both are really struggling in England [at Spurs and West Ham, respectively]. It’s a really difficult area to find a top player.”

Sources have told ESPN that Arteta chose not to pursue Toney last summer, opting instead to rely on Havertz, Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Sterling, who was signed on loan from Chelsea. Interest was strong in Gyokeres, but with a €100m (£83m) release clause at Sporting, the fee was too high for a player who had only left EFL Championship team Coventry for an initial £17.5m a year earlier. Meanwhile, Sesko had a poor Euro 2024 campaign with Slovenia and signed a new contract with Leipzig, while Omorodion was headed to Chelsea from Atletico Madrid until a failed medical saw the deal abandoned by the Stamford Bridge side.

Going into this season, Arteta and Arsenal lacked an ideal option and every potential signing would have been a gamble. But six months on, their reluctance to make a move is beginning to look like hesitancy and caution, with every missed chance on the pitch reflecting their missed opportunities off of it.

Finding the striker to turn Arsenal from contenders into champions has now become a matter of urgency, but their options are just the same as those they chose to reject in the summer.