Cristiano Ronaldo is now football's highest ever goal-scorer. But will he remain at Manchester United after this season?
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When it comes to Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United, there are generally two schools of thought. The first is that he’s been a problem to accomodate and that, without him, United might be better off. The second is that, without him, United might be worse off.
As is always the case, the answer is somewhere in the middle – and depends largely on what it is you want to see from the club.
There’s no doubt that Ronaldo is a tough player to accomodate. His lack of pressing and off-the-ball movement requires the team to work harder for him. But the trade-off – in the form of bucketloads of goals – can usually be worth it.
And when it all clicks, it is a sight to behold. And that is exactly what happened when United beat Spurs courtesy of a Ronaldo hat-trick.
Ronaldo scored three very different goals and was quite obviously the difference maker. In the process, he became the top-scorer in all of professional football.
It is a massive feat – even for a football player who’s made it a habit of breaking records. And it shows that, even at this age, he can be a difference maker in the right circumstances.
Then why does it still feel like his United career has a question mark over it?
Many believe that being unable to consistently get the best out of Ronaldo was what led to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dismissal. To that effect, his interim successor Ralf Rangnick hasn’t fared all that better.
It says a lot that Ronaldo has seemingly been underwhelming and inconsistent yet is also United’s top goalscorer this season. And much of this comes down to United’s playing identity – or lack of it.
Ronaldo is best in a system that brings out the best in him. It’s why he has reportedly been vocal in expressing to Rangnick how it is he feels he should be used.
The issue at United, however, is that there is no discernable system as of yet. It is correct that Rangnick has made them more compact and they do press slightly better. Yet the performance levels tends to taper off as the matches go on.
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Thus, it is hard to fit in Ronaldo when there is no proper system in place, which can make him a problem. At the same time, his ability to pounce on mistakes and find the back of the net make him a solution for a United team that often lack a cohesive gameplan.
It is a unique conundrum for any manager – not least one who’s been more of a board-level consultant than out-and-out coach in recent seasons. The good thing for Rangnick is it won’t be his problem forever.
But what about the man who comes in next?
An array of names have been linked to the United managerial job, but the two favourites as of now are Ajax’s Erik ten Haag and PSG’s Mauricio Pochettino.
Both managers favour a style of play that focuses on high intensity, high pressing and hard work. In other words, a system that focuses on the collective rather than any individual.
Even if it’s neither of these two, it is likely to be someone from the Rangnick school of thought. Which means Cristiano Ronaldo will stand out like a sore thumb.
He might be a conundrum as of now, but it will be harder for any coach to stamp a collective style of play on a team built around one individual without moving on said individual.
There’s also the sense that Ronaldo, as of now, is best suited to being the final key of the puzzle. He can still perform well in a team that knows how it is playing and that is built around him.
At the moment, United are neither – they are still a work in progress. And Ronaldo wants more trophies – something that isn’t a guarantee at Old Trafford.
It’s hard to see the ‘homecoming’ last any longer than this season – especially if United are serious about a rebuild. However, history should look back at Ronaldo more kindly – less of an actual issue at Old Trafford, more a symptom of the club’s inabiltiy to build for the future post-Sir Alex Ferguson.
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