When considering Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Manchester United this summer, the club has been advised to follow Sir Alex Ferguson’s lead with Ruud van Nistelrooy.
According to Jamie Carragher, Manchester United should take a page from Sir Alex Ferguson’s playbook and let Cristiano Ronaldo leave for the greater good this summer.
Since arriving in a blockbuster deal from Juventus in the summer, Ronaldo’s contribution at United has been the topic of heated criticism.
With 15 goals in 27 appearances in all competitions this season, the 37-year-old is easily the team’s top scorer.
However, his lack of participation in Ralf Rangnick’s press game, frequent displays of frustration on the field, and alleged leaks to the media have generated issues.
Carragher has drawn a comparison to former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was sold to Real Madrid by Ferguson in 2006 despite an amazing record of 150 goals in 219 games.
In his column for The Telegraph, the former Liverpool defender stated, “No single player can ever be bigger than the club.”
“No one understood this better than Sir Alex Ferguson, who, in 2006, transferred Ruud Van Nistelrooy, one of the Premier League’s most prolific goal scorers, because he believed the striker’s personal thirst for goals was impeding the development of younger, rising team-mates.
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“Who received the benefits?” says the narrator. After Van Nistelrooy’s departure, Ronaldo flourished.
“Ronaldo’s goal sprees, like Van Nistelrooy’s 16 years ago, have the ability to make anyone deemed critical look dumb.”
“It doesn’t change the reality that the next United manager will face the same problems in attempting to keep Rangnick happy as he did.”
Carragher believes Ronaldo’s disadvantages exceed his advantages, owing in part to the outside attention he draws.
This season, Ronaldo has had temper tantrums on the field and walked straight down the tunnel after a poor performance.
After the 2-0 win over Brighton, the Portuguese forward tweeted to encourage his teammates after a few weeks of “noise” – but Carragher feels that the noise is coming from him.
“Whether United wins or loses, whether Ronaldo scores or has a goal drought, it’s still too much about the CR7 brand and not enough about the squad,” he wrote.
“After United’s midweek victory, Ronaldo used to social media to express his displeasure with ‘the noise’ at the club. He can’t ignore the source of a lot of the noise.”
Since taking over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November, Rangnick has been dealing with issues in the United locker room.
This entails a power struggle for the captaincy between Ronaldo and Harry Maguire, as The Mirror exclusively reported on Thursday.
Maguire has been marginalised by Ronaldo, who has established himself as the team’s role model for the younger players.
Rangnick chose to enlist Ronaldo’s help in guiding United’s younger players, such as Jadon Sancho, Scott McTominay, and Marcus Rashford, in what Maguire saw as a direct challenge to his leadership authority.
