When Cristiano Ronaldo eventually retires, football fans worldwide will remember him as one of the greatest to step onto the field. Ronaldo won trophies at every club where he played, he is one of the greatest goalscorers in history, and he left his indelible mark with his national team Portugal.
The Soccer Odds may not favour Ronaldo if he comes up against the game’s truly elite players at present, however, as his stock has fallen. He is no longer the same player who bamboozled defences or could out-jump any opponent to score a header.
While he still has the same quality in patches, Ronaldo is closing in on the end of his career. His move to Saudi Arabian club side Al-Nassr is proof of his diminishing stock in the game.
Many fans are asking how Ronaldo’s legacy looks at present, why he left Europe, and who can succeed him?
Leaving Manchester United and burning bridges
Departing from a football club does not necessarily mean that a player is ruining his legacy with those supporters. Players leave teams every year, whether to seek a new adventure, play in a better team, or get regular football as their career winds down.
Ronaldo is not criticised for leaving Manchester United, but for how he departed from the club that took him on as a teenager and developed him into a global superstar.
Having returned to the club in the twilight of his career in the summer of 2021, Ronaldo barely lasted 18 months and left amid a barrage of criticism directed towards everyone at the club, from ex-players to the coaching staff to the owners.
Time heals all wounds
With Ronaldo, many of the emotions surrounding his departure from United and European football are very raw. The Portuguese star was expected to have a great season for his club, star at the World Cup with Portugal, and perhaps move on at the end of the season.
Instead, Ronaldo lost his starting spot at United, fell out with the club, had his contract cancelled, and was dropped by Portugal for their latter World Cup matches.
Many supporters’ most recent memories of Ronaldo involve his unceremonious departure from the pinnacle of the sport. After a few years pass, and he undoubtedly continues scoring goals in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo will likely be remembered for the unequivocal legend of the sport that he is.
The new generation of superstars is already here
The question of who can succeed Cristiano Ronaldo as an elite scorer and creator in European football is a moot one. Soccer’s next great players are already here, and they have been thriving for club and country. The two greatest superstars of the present generation are Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland.
Mbappé won a World Cup as a teenager and recently scored a hat-trick as a losing finalist in his second appearance in that glittering tournament. Meanwhile, he has enjoyed success at club level with Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain. He hopes to win the Champions League in the coming years to cement his status as an all-time superstar who should be mentioned alongside Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
While Haaland has not enjoyed much international success with Norway, he has been lucky at club level. His time at Borussia Dortmund was full of goals, if not club trophies. He is now at Manchester City, the reigning Premier League champions, where he is already breaking goal-scoring records.
Aside from Mbappé and Haaland, the likes of João Félix, Jude Bellingham, Ansu Fati, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are already emerging as superb talents for club and country, respectively.
The king is dead, long live the king
In a metaphorical sense, we can say that Cristiano Ronaldo is now part of the past of the beautiful game. While he is still likely to play for several more years in various leagues worldwide, his time at elite club sides and possibly with the Portugal national team is over.
The king, as he has been known by his fans for more than a decade, is dead. Ronaldo is no longer a contender for the Ballon d’Or, nor is he likely to win a World Cup, European Championship, or Champions League trophy between now and his retirement.
The sport belongs to the newest generation, and in Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland, the sport’s billions of worldwide fans have two superstars they can cherish for years to come, while for Portuguese football fans the hope is João Félix can still step up and keep the world talking about Portugal as a hotbed of football talent.
