Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has opened up on the warning sign that was raised with him ahead of Manchester United signing one player under his reign at Old Trafford.
The 51-year-old former Manchester United manager was sacked by the Premier League club in the 2021-22 campaign after a disappointing start to the season.
United were thrashed 4-1 by Watford at Vicarage Road in November 2021 and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was axed while the club were seventh in the league table.
Solskjaer initially returned to Old Trafford in 2018 as caretaker manager after Jose Mourinho was sacked during the 2018-19 Premier League season.
The United legend enjoyed a scintillating run as caretaker manager and permanently succeeded Jose Mourinho at the Premier League club in 2019.
During the 2020-21 season, Solskjaer led United to second place in the Premier League and fell short of the Europa League title to Villarreal on penalties.
Solskjaer on one Man Utd signing
Ahead of his sacking in 2021, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer saw a major boost to his Manchester United first-team squad with the re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo.
United paid an initial fee of £12.85m to Juventus to bring Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford as part of a blockbuster transfer.
Kieran McKenna, who is now the head coach of Ipswich Town, worked under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the United coaching staff.
Solskjaer revealed that Kieran McKenna had analysed Ronaldo’s last six matches at Juventus after they were informed about the potential United signing.
However, the former United boss said that the 38-year-old McKenna had warned him that the Red Devils need to be more worried about the defence first.
“How are we going to defend ourselves? That’s the first thing he says,” Solskjaer told Norwegian media outlet NRK.
Ronaldo impressed during his first season back at Old Trafford and the United legend scored 24 times in 39 appearances across all competitions.
The 39-year-old Portuguese superstar would subsequently fall down the pecking order under Erik ten Hag, who succeeded Solskjaer at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo pulled no punches towards former United manager Erik ten Hag in his 2022 interview with Piers Morgan before his contract was mutually terminated.
Solskjaer admitted that it was the “wrong choice” to sign Ronaldo, who has been at Al Nassr since 2023, from Serie A side Juventus during his Old Trafford reign.
“It was probably a wrong choice for all of us. But we felt it was the right decision then and there,” he added.
Solskjaer talks Man Utd managerial reign
Solskjaer insisted that he is “proud” of his managerial record at the Red Devils, despite falling short of major silverware in the 2021 Europa League final.
“I am proud of what I did,” he said.
“I have to say, I think it was a lot of good, and we were on our way to something very good.
“We came third and second, got a number of semi-finals, and unfortunately, we lost that final [against Villarreal].
“That’s how I think about it, if we had won it, it could have been a completely different outcome.”
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/mxMupPT