Former Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that signing Cristiano Ronaldo was the wrong decision.

The 39-year-old returned to Old Trafford late in the summer transfer window of 2021, amid reports he could sign for rivals Manchester City.

While Ronaldo scored an impressive 24 goals on his first season back at United, the team failed to seriously challenge for any silverware and Solskjaer was sacked within months of the deal.

“It was a very quick decision,” the Norwegian told Sky Bet’s Stick To Football podcast. “We didn’t think Cristiano was available and that he was going to move.

“When it became apparent that he was leaving Juventus, obviously there were other clubs that wanted him – but I was excited. [United] asked me, ‘Would you want us to try this?’. I said yes – obviously we know Cristiano is quality, and he’s 37.

“But we have to manage – he’s the best goal scorer in the world. It didn’t work out for me, it didn’t work out for Cristiano, but it was the right decision at the time.”

Ultimately, however, Solskjaer and his successors failed to make Ronaldo’s role in the team work.

The club legend has detailed how he was forced to change his tactical approach, to the detriment of teammates such as Edinson Cavani and with little to show for it before Ronaldo eventually left for Al-Nassr 18 months after he rejoined.

“We started off straight away thinking how we are going to press and change the little tweaks,” Solskjaer continued.

“Cristiano is different to Antony Martial who was up front, or whether we would play Mason [Greenwood] or Marcus [Rashford] up front. Edinson Cavani was the one that suffered the most when Cristiano came in – we’d played and got Edinson into a certain way of understanding the way we played.

“Cristiano – when you know him and speak to him, he wanted to play three out of four games, he realised he’s getting older as well. But when you leave him out once, he’s not happy!

“With the ball, with him in the team, it was no problem. Without him [pressing], we had to change a little bit the different roles we had gotten used to. We were one of the highest pressing teams before [Ronaldo joined].

“We let Dan James go when Cristiano came in, and they’re two different types of players. It was the right decision to make for me – it didn’t turn out to be the right one.”