Cristiano Ronaldo's time at Manchester United is up. Today he is a free player on the market, willing to give up some of his wages in order to prove to himself and the world that he is still a special player.
Ronaldo's identity crisis has become a serious problem in the final part of his playing days. His extraordinary career has reached a fundamental intersection; the boundary between being a useful player and an indispensable one.
He still wants to be seen as the latter, but this was not going to happen under Erik ten Hag at United, leading to a painful separation between the player and the club.