Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United: What should Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expect from the superstar forward?

After a remarkable chain of events on Friday, Ronaldo has returned to Manchester United 12 years after leaving for a world record fee

When Cristiano Ronaldo left Old Trafford in 2009 even his harshest critics would acknowledge he was the second best footballer in the world. This was a player that would transform the fortunes of any team overnight. He may have coveted the move to Real Madrid but this was a player who could have gone to Mallorca or Almeria and given them a decent shot at contention overnight. The Ronaldo of his Real Madrid pomp was the do it all forward who only needed to get the ball somewhere in the final third to win you games. Now, 12 years on, he can still win games for you but you best be prepared to do a lot more of the ground work for him. Perhaps for Manchester United that doesn't really matter. They have players who can get the ball to Ronaldo in the penalty area -- Paul Pogba, Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes -- and even if they already have an ageing poacher of great renown in Edinson Cavani it is not like a $17.7 million down payment and wages of around $650,000 a week are beyond the means of the greatest revenue generating club in football. If nothing else, maybe that is a price worth paying just to stop Manchester City getting hold of him and erecting another Carlos Tevez style Welcome to Manchester billboard. Ed Woodward has sanctioned transfers for less convincing reasons.