Why Cristiano Ronaldo leaving is a good thing

When my family and I visited for London for the first time, I was only six years old. The one thing that I really looked forward to was the promise my father made to me and my brother. Not only had he promised each of us a brand new English soccer shirt, but one with our own name on the back.

I would finally become the king of the schoolyard.

Unfortunately, things didn't turn out that well for us. Custom made personalized shirts were not possible but on the second day of our trip we got to visit a small, crappy store that had lot of soccer shirts. I had little to no knowledge about the not yet formed Premier league aside from the fact that all the grownups considered the one game broadcast on Swedish tv as very, very important.

I chose a hideous blue and white jersey. You might remember it, with the blue and white all made up of small Adidas logos.
It was the away jersey of Manchester United.
From that day on I was as hardcore Manchester United supporter as I could be at the time. Without internet and multiple sports channels on TV I very much looked forward to reading the results in the morning papers on weekends or Monday mornings.

This obsession with Manchester United followed me through the years. I considered myself a part of Man U, just like David Beckham, Eric Cantona, Andrei Kanchelskis, Ryan Giggs, Steve Bruce, Roy Keane and the others.

A couple of years ago, all of that changed. I think I was so fed up with the modern day soccer practices of clubs buying players for ridiculous amounts of money. Players moving through clubs like myself through underwear. Or maybe just tired of all the soccer shown on tv, to the point where it wasn't special anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I kept on checking the scores for my beloved Red Devils but the fire wasn't there. I didn't have that beautiful feeling of anxiety mixed with expectations and fear on the morning of a meeting with Liverpool FC.

About a week ago, it was announced that Cristiano Ronaldo was leaving Manchester United for Real Madrid. As ridiculous as the transfer sum was, I found myself filled with joy and a new found love for "my" team. I had always admired the strategy of United as a club. Bringing up players from the academy, scouting for unknown players and almost always fielding a core of British, if not English, players. That was English soccer to me. My worst fear was the Manchester United of late, that the club would turn into the foreign legion Arsene Wenger has created at Arsenal. Or become like the soulless team of Chelsea.
Cristiano Ronaldo, for me, symbolized all that was wrong with Manchester United.

I am not naive. I understand that United, in this day and age, can not survive fielding eleven British players in the Premier league (the English national team pretty much confirms that). But with Ronaldo gone there is now hope.

There is hope of the soul coming back to United. There is hope that we in the future can see "The Red Machine" coming back with fifteen minutes left in the fight at Old Trafford filled with cheers and joy.

The soul that is symbolized by Wayne Rooney might come back to the Theatre of Dreams.

And for other reasons, Cristiano Ronaldo's departure will be beneficial for United. Beckham had to leave because he became bigger than the club itself, something that is not allowed at United. When Beckham left, the club eventually got better, more improved and harder to beat (yes, in part because Ronaldo's soccer skills). Beckham himself got worse, something that Ronaldo will realize himself. My belief is that Ronaldo is peaking. A single player can not keep the production of Ronaldo up forever, not even Ronaldo himself.

And for 80 million pounds you can buy a few other players that will equal, if not exceed, Ronaldo's production.

The most important thing though: I am not alone feeling this way. United will have their fans back, that is what matters the most. That is why I am betting the Red Devils defend their Premier League title