5 ways Cristiano Ronaldo can prolong his career at the top

While Cristiano Ronaldo remains at the peak of football right now – he’s still probably the world’s greatest player, even as newer talents like Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe are emerging – there’s no denying that father time waits for no man.

It’s now been fourteen years since the Portuguese star signed with Manchester United, and somehow it’s been eight years – almost a decade – since he went to Real Madrid.

Ronaldo turns 33 in February, and the general consensus is that footballers – even fantastic ones – begin to see their powers wane in their mid-to-late thirties. Due to his absolute dedication to his craft, Ronaldo’s time at the top may last a little longer than some others, but he can’t continue to play like superman forever.

There are, however, some ways through which he could prolong, or even rejuvenate his career. Here are 5 suggestions:

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#5 Trim down a little

Normally when trimming down is mentioned with regards to a footballer, it usually involves them attempting to get to lower bodyfat levels. Not so with Ronaldo, who resembles a Greek god – and doesn’t everyone in the football world know it, with the amount of times the Portuguese star tears off his shirt and flexes his muscles in celebration.

Heading into his mid-30’s, though, you could argue that the muscle he’s carrying could be to his detriment.

Firstly, he may not actually need all of that excess muscle – other players aren’t carrying as much and it’s not like Ronaldo has a Lukaku-esque frame. So it could well end up slowing him down, and as we’ve seen in recent performances from him, this has probably happened already, as the blistering pace he once had is definitely no longer as impressive as it once was.

Secondly, a lot of weight-lifting - particularly, a strength and conditioning programme that Ronaldo most likely follows – can lead to muscle injuries in older athletes, and Ronaldo wouldn’t want a major injury to an already-worn joint like his knee or shoulder.

So, perhaps, it’s time for him to cut the lifting a little and try to get more lean and mean. It was reported as far back as February 2016 that he was planning to change his diet in order to trim down a little, but judging by recent photos he’s still as muscular as ever. To prolong his career, maybe it’s time for Ronaldo to embrace being skinny again.

#2 Reduction in play time

Perhaps Ronaldo needs to embrace being substituted a little more?

Ever since he arrived at the Bernabeu in 2009, Ronaldo has been Real Madrid’s key man, and essentially, all the success they’ve achieved since likely wouldn’t have been possible without him.

Sure, he’s had a couple of bad patches and injuries over the years, but generally, he’s been consistent and fantastic. Unfortunately, for the older Ronaldo, being such a key man might start to pull him down anytime soon, if it hasn't already.

Last season saw Ronaldo play a total of 46 games, and while it was the lowest total he’s hit since being in Madrid (outside of his debut season), it’s still a hell of a lot of football to be playing, particularly when you’re the kind of player – as Ronaldo is – to throw fits when you’re substituted, even late on in the game.

While he’s still the key to any sort of success for Real Madrid, for the good of their star player, it could be time for a change.

Firstly Ronaldo ought to embrace the idea of resting even when he’s fully fit. Real have enough easy games in La Liga – and enough firepower even without Ronaldo – to afford to give their star man a break, and obviously a rested and fresh Ronaldo would be a nightmare for the likes of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid – real threats to Real’s dominance – to face off against.

And he should also not worry so much about being substituted. Sure, it’d probably mean that he’d end up plundering fewer goals overall, but does that really matter at this point?

Everyone knows he’s one of the all-time greats. If Zinedine Zidane feels like the game is won, then he should take Ronaldo off to save his ageing star for the next big game. It only makes sense.

#3 Retirement from international football

Retiring from his duties with Portugal could also help Ronaldo prolong his career

Normally, I’d frown upon this suggestion because I still believe that international football is the pinnacle of the game, but realistically for Ronaldo, now is probably the time for him to move on from playing for Portugal and let his country move on from him, too. After all, he’s now played 147 times for them and scored 79 goals. Could anyone really ask for more?

If we’re being blunt, do Portugal have a real chance of winning the World Cup in 2018 – probably Ronaldo’s last hurrah anyway? The answer is no; there are far stronger teams out there than Portugal, and even with a fully-firing, peak Ronaldo, they crashed out in the group stage of the last World Cup, with more of a whimper, rather than a bang.

If he does choose to retire from the international game, nobody can claim he didn’t succeed with Portugal anyway. Remember he was their star man – even not at peak form – in their Euro 2016 victory, the one tournament win for the country, and even when he left the final with an injury, he largely coached the side to their win.

Other players such as Paul Scholes and Alan Shearer retired from international football and it helped them to prolong their club career, largely because it gave them a rest during the international breaks and saved them from an abundance of travel – and Ronaldo could follow in their footsteps.

#4 Become a target man

Ronaldo's evolving game could help him to last longer at the top

One way that Ronaldo could prolong his career at the top may have already begun last season – CR7’s reinvention as a target man rather than a free-roaming attacker.

When he burst onto the scene at Manchester United back in the early 00’s, Ronaldo was more of a winger than anything else, deploying his explosive pace and dribbling skills to awesome effect as he rose to the top of the game.

And with his move to Real, he changed again, becoming a free-roaming attacker, drifting inside from the wings and still using that dribbling skill to score an insane amount of goals.

Now, though, his speed has slowed down, his dribbling skills are no longer as effective as they were before, and Ronaldo can’t keep up the kind of pace that he once did for over 90 minutes. Last season then saw Ronaldo re-invent himself as a target man, a hitman in the box more comparable to someone like Robert Lewandowski or Luis Suarez than his older self.

Sure, he didn’t score quite as many goals last season – 37 compared to hitting over 40 in his previous seasons – but that’s still an impressive return, and he’s continuing to develop himself in the position too, as we saw with his hat-tricks last against Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid.

And with his insane vertical leap, he’s also become a master of headed goals too, akin to someone like Alvaro Morata or Andy Carroll.

By changing his position – some would say even restricting his game – he’s actually stopping himself from running himself into the ground like he would’ve done by keeping the free-roaming role.

If this evolution continues, and Ronaldo becomes purely a dangerous in-box predator, then he may be able to stay at the very top for a while yet.

#5 Leave Real Madrid

Could it be time for Ronaldo to finally depart the Bernabeu?

It’d be a massively controversial move, given Ronaldo’s iconic status at Real Madrid – the world’s biggest club and the world’s greatest player belong together in the eyes of most fans.

But under such intense pressure at the Bernabeu, with fans and journalists judging his every move, can Ronaldo really prolong his career and age gracefully rather than burning himself out? I’m not too sure.

That’s why a move away from Real this summer could be the best thing for him. I’m not saying he should move to Major League Soccer or anything similar to David Beckham and Steven Gerrard did in the twilight of their careers – he has far more left in the tank than that – but a change of scenery and a move to somewhere with less pressure, where he’s not the constant focal point could help him to adjust into the tail end of his career.

A move for Ronaldo, regardless of the destination, wouldn’t take all the pressure off automatically, simply because he’s the world’s most famous player and thus he’d feel pressure wherever he goes.

But the pressure to win every competition there is, only really comes from playing for Real Madrid, and he wouldn’t feel the same kind of pressure at a different club, perhaps somewhere like Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich with a much less competitive domestic league.

Selling Ronaldo might not be a popular move for Real, but it’d allow them to move on from the CR7 era, and it’d mean their younger stars could move from under his shadow too. It could be the best move for all parties involved.