Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick has made it clear he hopes to see Edinson Cavani stay at the club for another season after his hugely impressive performance against Tottenham.
The Uruguay international scored a fine header to put United in front against Spurs on their way to a 3-1 victory in north London on Sunday, and he’s generally looked a useful option for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for much of this season.
Chadwick admits Cavani’s signing didn’t initially look like the best move, but he is delighted with the impact he’s had and now hopes any issues he’s having away from the pitch can be resolved so he feels comfortable staying at Old Trafford for at least one more season.
Cavani’s impact has been “superb”
“The impact he’s had has been superb,” Chadwick told CaughtOffside. “He’s got something different from the rest of the squad in terms of his awareness, his movement in and around the box to get into good positions.
“I heard Ole saying Cavani’s not made his mind up yet. The way he was talking it sounds like he’s had a tough time, not speaking English, the fact that he’s not been able to have friends and family visiting has been really tough. You’d hope it will start opening up a bit now so it could be more comfortable next season. I
“t’s certainly not shown on the pitch if he’s had a hard time off the pitch. But it’ll be a decision he’s got to make, it seems about 50-50 at the moment if he stays or if he goes.
“He’s proven what a talent he is, there were a few eyebrows raised when he joined that he was maybe a bit over the hill, but some of his goals have been superb and he showed again yesterday what a big influence he can have on games.”
Speaking to us earlier this season, Chadwick also noted that he was proven wrong by the impression he’d had of Cavani from his time at Paris Saint-Germain.
“When Cavani signed, my perception of him over the years was of a goal-scorer, quite a selfish player, and quite withdrawn,” he said. “Obviously he’s a man approaching the end of his career but you can see that his enthusiasm and passion is still there in abundance. He’s been a superb addition to the squad, in more ways than I was expecting.”
“Incredible” that Cavani goal was ruled out
Chadwick also felt that Cavani was hard done by as he saw a goal ruled out by VAR against Tottenham, not long before Spurs took the lead in the game.
As many are increasingly saying, the addition of this particular piece of technology does not appear to be improving the game at all, but feels rather like it’s making it much worse in some ways.
“I thought it was incredible that the goal got chalked off,” Chadwick said. “It was a fantastic goal – a great pass from Pogba and wonderful movement from Cavani, but I couldn’t believe it really. As soon as the referee’s told to go and have a look at the monitor you don’t really expect anything else but for the goal to be ruled out.
“It was such a strange decision, the way McTominay used his arms, it was completely accidental … how that goal was disallowed was crazy really. It does make me wonder if VAR is improving the game or making it less of a spectacle. It was an awful decision.”