Jamie Carragher questions if Cristiano Ronaldo is 'worth the hassle' - 'Can you put up with that?'
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Updated 22/12/2022 at 20:31 GMT
Former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher has questioned if Cristiano Ronaldo is "worth the hassle". The 37-year-old left Manchester United last month following an explosive interview and caused a stir with then-Portugal manager Fernando Santos during the World Cup following his reaction to being substituted. "Ronaldo hasn't changed, he's always been that sort of character," he said.
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Jamie Carragher has questioned if Cristiano Ronaldo is “worth the hassle”, suggesting the 37-year-old is now too much of a problem for managers.
Ronaldo left Manchester United last month after an explosive interview with Piers Morgan, claiming the club had "betrayed" him, and also criticised manager Erik ten Hag.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos also slammed the forward for his reaction to being taken off during the 2-1 defeat to South Korea at the Qatar World Cup, with Ronaldo making a “quiet” gesture by raising one finger to his lips.
He was subsequently dropped to the bench for the 6-1 win over Switzerland in the last-16 and the 2-1 defeat to Morocco in the quarter-final.
"Ronaldo hasn't changed, he's always been that sort of character, everyone's known that - but he was worth the hassle," Carragher said on the Diary of a CEO podcast.
"And that's like everything in football, when we talk about a manager making a decision, can you put up with that?
'You don't cut off your nose to spite your face, but when it gets to that stage where you're thinking "this is becoming more of a problem"... when a manager looks at you as a player, every manager wants the same thing: high performance, low maintenance. That's it.
“When it starts getting weighted to the high maintenance and the scales are more tilted towards high maintenance, it's time to go.”
However, Carragher took time to praise Ronaldo for his “unbelievable mental strength” and all the five-time Ballon d’Or winner had achieved in the game.
"I'm no huge Ronaldo fan, I think that's pretty obvious and that's not for his footballing ability, [but] I've actually got so much admiration for his mental strength," Carragher continued.
"I think it's unbelievable. I think [he's] probably one of the strongest players mentally, because he's had that thing his whole career, for how good he is, he's still had [Lionel] Messi on his shoulder. He could never almost sit back and say, 'I'm the best' and relax, he's always had this constant 'yeah but you're not as good as Messi'.
"I know it splits people, but I would say the majority of people would probably side with Messi, I think that they do. And I think to always have that thing of trying to prove people wrong, and I've got that but on a completely different level, it's almost like he feels he's not ready to leave.
"Everyone says he's one of the best players of all time and I can't help but admire that drive, because I've got that drive - just not that ability that he's got!"
Ronaldo is edging closer to signing a seven-year deal at Al-Nassr – two and a half years in a playing capacity, then continuing in an ambassadorial role – according to a report.
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