Cristiano Ronaldo's 'passion' could lead to surprising return to Man Utd, according to Louis Saha

According to his former teammate Louis Saha, Cristiano Ronaldo possesses the passion and dedication necessary to make a surprising comeback to Manchester United.

Saha and Ronaldo played together under legendary United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and the Frenchman has tipped the 39-year-old for a managerial role.

Ronaldo is still an active player with Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr, although given his age, he is surely coming to the end and thinking about the next steps.

Should Ronaldo ever become manager at Old Trafford – or even just a coach – it would be his third stint at the club following his two separate spells as a player.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo has the passion and dedication to return to Manchester United one day,’ Saha told TVSporten.

‘That could be as a coach or even a manager. His second spell didn’t end how everyone had hoped and you can see why that frustrated him.

‘He didn’t see the same formula and didn’t see the passion from young players that he had been used to seeing.

‘Now he will know that he needs to find a new way to communicate when he becomes a coach, which maybe isn’t as harsh or direct as it was when he was at the club.

‘He will work out how to be successful and use all his knowledge to do that, we’ve seen Roy Keane go into management and have success.

‘Cristiano will understand what he needs to do as a manager and I see no reason why he wouldn’t be a success.’

Ronaldo first arrived at United from Sporting Lisbon in 2003 and massively impressed over six years in Manchester before he joined Real Madrid – where he then established himself as the best player in the world alongside Lionel Messi.

Following nine trophy-laden years in Spain, Ronaldo was in Italy from 2018 to 2021 with Juventus, before returning to United for his second stint as a player.

It didn’t go quite to plan, though, with Ronaldo exiting in dramatic circumstances after a fall-out with Erik ten Hag, as the Portuguese superstar publicly slammed the club’s owners, youth players and the quality of facilities.