Chelsea take notice of Gary Neville warning as Cristiano Ronaldo transfer decision made

Chelsea have dodged Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘negative impact’ amid their latest transfer decision.

The Blues were said to be lining up a deal for Ronaldo, who has been tipped to leave Old Trafford this summer.

Manchester United’s public stance has been that Ronaldo will stay beyond this summer, but reports have claimed they could accept the right offer one year ahead of his contract expiring.

Chelsea were being heavily linked, with reports claiming new owner Todd Boehly had met with Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, to discuss a possible deal.

The latest report, which comes from The Guardian, claims the Blues are no longer interested in the Portuguese superstar, with Thomas Tuchel voicing his opposition.

Tuchel is said to want to concentrate on signing defenders after losing Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen this summer.

And while Chelsea could have benefitted from Ronaldo’s world-class talents had they pulled off a deal, they have also avoided some of the negative impacts the Portuguese has had at Old Trafford.

Speaking back in May, United legend Neville spoke about those impacts.

“I think he’s staying,”, said the former defender on Sky Sports’ The Overlap.

“I think at the start of the season, he created a problem straight away with Cavani.

“[Cavani was] being pleaded to stay and lead the attack for the year, but when they signed Ronaldo, Cavani was shot then and finished. It upset the dynamic in the dressing room for Bruno.

“I think Bruno looks up to him like a godfather in Portugal so it made him feel a bit inferior to what he was before. It made Maguire a little bit inferior as captain just naturally – nothing from Ronaldo’s doing this.

“Just his presence itself on the pitch means everyone’s looking to Cristiano with Harry trying to establish himself as United captain.

“I don’t know where the cliques are, I’m not close enough to it but you mention words like ‘rotten’ ‘broken’.

“Harry Maguire has gone from someone who I think was growing on the pitch last year in Covid to someone who looks like he’s shot to pieces when he pull on a red shirt.

“Bruno looks like half the player.

“The rest of them, the young players, it looks like you’ve lost complete faith in them, let’s get rid of them. That’s when something has gone fundamentally wrong in the changing room, in the leadership, and I don’t think you can absolve anyone of blame. Everyone has to take blame for that.”

Chelsea could yet have dodged a bullet.