‘Man City dodged a bullet by not signing Cristiano’ – Ronaldo slammed for Man Utd transfer antics

England international and former Manchester City forward Trevor Sinclair believes his former club will be breathing a sigh of relief that they didn’t manage to secure Cristiano Ronaldo signature over the summer.

City came close to signing Ronaldo in the summer after spells at Real Madrid and Juventus, before Manchester United beat them to his signature, but the homecoming has not been as happy as he hoped.

The 36-year-old has scored eight goals and assisted three in 18 appearances, but his homecoming has fallen well below par due to the players’ expectations of helping the club back to their glory days.

Sinclair, who spent four years applying his trade on the blue half of Manchester for City, believes that Pep Guardiola’s side have had a lucky escape amid the problems that Ronaldo is causing at Old Trafford.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Sinclair said: “I’m starting to think that Manchester City dodged a bullet by not signing Cristiano Ronaldo, I really think that.

“I think you look at some of the players that are really struggling for form at Manchester United, young players, [Jadon] Sancho, [Marcus] Rashford. I know Rashford has got a lot of experience but they’re really struggling for good performances.”

“Course you can [blame Ronaldo for that]. Know your role, know your role. You’re a footballer, you’re hired by the football club.

“Keep your mouth shut because at times that’s the best thing to do. He’s causing a lot of problems at the football club.

“Not just his lack of goals in recent times, but the fact that Ole’s gone and Michael went in and dropped him for a game.”

“I just feel it’s been one of those signings where it looked good, but it’s far from good,” Sinclair added.

“For me, one of the reasons I think he may not have considered Manchester City, and it’s certainly not winning trophies because he would have won a lot of silverware there.

“I think it’s because he didn’t want to be second fiddle to Pep. Whereas he could go into Manchester United, he could almost feel like he could bully Ole.

“And I think he just want to do what he wants for him and it’s not the best for the club.”

United’s stuttering Premier League campaign continued on Monday as the Red Devils fell to a 1-0 home defeat to Wolves.