Cristiano Ronaldo has broken his only Alejandro Garnacho promise and his Manchester United vow

The attacker has scored 701 goals in his illustrious career but only three of them have come this season. While Ronaldo remains on his splintered, fast-rotting public pedestal, Garnacho should look up and take note.

The 18-year-old only made his full debut last month but is just one behind Ronaldo in the scorers’ chart this season. No doubt he would have hoped to have enjoyed a week of praise but that’s now been muted and overshadowed by Ronaldo, who has emphatically stolen his limelight.

It means that Ronaldo has also broken a promise he made to Garnacho and his fellow up-and-coming colleagues. In January, the veteran pledged to help and develop youngsters on the side.

“The mature players, the older players, they can always help the young players. We are here to help and if they need my help, my support, and my advice, I will be the No1 to help. But if you don’t want my help, do your job, look for yourself, and do your best to help the team.”

But now, he will be unable to fulfill that promise because, quite simply, there is no way back for him at United following his comments about Erik ten Hag. When asked if he felt he was being pushed out of United, Ronaldo answered: “Yes. Not only the coach but the other two or three guys around the club. I felt betrayed.”

He added: “I don’t have respect for him [Ten Hag] because he doesn’t show respect for me. If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never gonna have respect for you.”

In doing so, he also broke own golden rule he championed in January’s interview. When he declared: “We have to have the right mentality. I look at myself and I say ‘Cristiano, what can you do better to improve your level to help the team? Yes, I can improve other things.

“For me, this is why they call this team Manchester ‘United’. So we have to be united in the difficult moments.” It all makes Ronaldo look less than sincere, to say the least.

Garnacho is at an age where his idol will hold a lot of sway over his perspective of his own career. He has many times shown his admiration for Ronaldo, and he too had shown attitude issues in pre-season.

He has since bucked up his ideas and is producing the best football of his life so far, and United must ensure he has the right voices around him amid the mess surrounding his hero and role model.

Through all of this, Ronaldo’s ego looks extremely fragile and his incendiary remarks could light a flame that down the line could come to burn younger players who admire him. Instead of inspiration, Garnacho ought to feel hurt and ‘betrayed’ himself.