It’s been a season to forget for Manchester United, with the emotional return of club legend Cristiano Ronaldo in last summer’s transfer window not really having the desired effect.
Still, the stats show this campaign would almost certainly have been even worse for Man Utd without Ronaldo up front, with the tweet from ESPN below surely showing that incoming new manager Erik ten Hag has no choice but to make the 37-year-old Portugal international a key part of his plans next season, regardless of the emerging narrative that the ageing forward doesn’t look the best fit for the Dutch tactician’s preferred playing style…
Man United haven’t won a single game without Cristiano Ronaldo this season. pic.twitter.com/wwxZJx74Vn
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 22, 2022
It will be interesting to see how Ten Hag plans to use Ronaldo, but there’s no denying that he’s done all he can, despite his advancing years, to show that he remains one of the best in the world.
The former Real Madrid and Juventus man finished with 24 goals in all competitions for the Red Devils, and if the rest of the team had played at his high standards things would surely have gone better for the club.