Cristiano Ronaldo turns mercenary in quest to play in the UCL

Ronaldo has a desire to leave Manchester United. He could force a move, but all that would prove is that he loves playing in the Champions League over being a part of any club.   

The countdown for the start of Europe’s five major domestic leagues is on. Matches are scheduled to start in just a few weeks given that the World Cup will force a monthlong stop come November.

Before we can get to the games that count, there’s the transfer window and the buying and selling of players. For now, Barcelona has dominated the window, even though they don’t have the money to be buying such talent.

The other persistent storyline has been Cristiano Ronaldo and his desire to leave Manchester United just a year after he signed with the Premier League club.

Why does the Portuguese phenom want to leave? Manchester United failed to make the Champions League and all Ronaldo wants to do this season is play in that tournament. It’s the competition by which he measures himself and how others view him, especially in comparison to Lionel Messi.

The only man to win the Champions League five times, Ronaldo has made more appearances (183) and scored more goals (140) than any other player in UCL history.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League quest colors desire to leave Manchester United

Ronaldo has many UCL records, part of his larger legacy as one of the game’s best players ever, and he wants a shot at the biggest trophy a club team can ever win.

Ronaldo’s dream would be to land at Bayern Munich, a perennial Champions League contender. Even with the departure of Robert Lewandowski, the Bavarian giants aren’t interested. Ronaldo has also tried to engineer moves to other clubs in recent weeks (those have also included Manchester City and Atletico Madrid), but to no avail.

Ronaldo, now 37, isn’t the sought-after striker he was just a few years ago. As Rory Smith, writing in The New York Times, observed:

"He has been unimpressed by United’s activity in the transfer market. He has been disgruntled by the news that he will not be paid as much as he would have been, had the club with one of the most expensive squads ever assembled finished as one of the best four teams in the Premier League. He wants, more than anything, to play in the Champions League for the remainder of his career.The last one, perhaps, is not only the most convincing but the most illustrative. There is no reason to disbelieve the idea that Ronaldo has loved all of the clubs he has represented: Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United and Real Madrid and Juventus. But his greatest bond is not with a team but with a tournament."

The Champions League is the competition players are judged most these days. To others, the World Cup remains the bar. But Ronaldo may never win one of those. Instead, he clings to the hope of playing in the UCL this season and to end his career as one of the greatest of all time.