Former Manchester United head coach Ole Gunner Solskjaer admitted the club’s decision to re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021 was a mistake.

The five-time Ballon d’or winner returned to Man United in 2021 twelve years after leaving the Red Devils for Real Madrid.

After ending as the third top scorer in the Premier League in his first season (2021/22), the second one was a chaos for him with Solskjaer leaving and Erik ten Hag being appointed.

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 “It was a decision that was very difficult to turn down and I felt we had to take it, but it turned out wrong”, the Norwegian manager told The Athletic.

“It felt so right when he signed and the fans felt that at that Newcastle game when Old Trafford was rocking (after Ronaldo scored twice in a 4-1 win). He was still one of the best goalscorers in the world, he was looking strong.

“When I looked at the fixtures it was going to be a deciding period: Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham, and Leicester away. Then Chelsea and Arsenal, plus Champions League games. Things went against us.

“It started with Aston Villa at home (a 1-0 defeat) and a late penalty miss. When you have a group you need everyone to pull in the same direction. When things didn’t go right, you could see certain players and egos came out. We beat Tottenham convincingly 3-0 away, but then we lost two games.”