Manchester United are going through a lot of change with new players joining the club almost everyday ahead of the close of the transfer window. The Red Devils having won the match against Southampton are breathing easily now with two back to back wins in the Premier League. However amidst all of this, United manager Erik ten Hag feels like he has found his ideal formation, with both Harry Maguire and superstar Cristiano Ronaldo out of the bench.
Recently former defender Rio Ferdinand shared how Ronaldo will not be okay with this going forward. Ferdinand who has shared the dressing room with the Portuguese international knows him very well and believes that one does not change their true self at 37 just to fit in. Ronaldo is currently in his final year of contract at Old Trafford. Despite his desire to leave the club, Ronaldo has struggled to find a club that would welcome him and keep his wish of playing in the UEFA Champions League.
Speaking on his Youtube channel ‘Vive with Five’, Ferdinand brings up the issue regarding Cristiano Ronaldo and his future at Old Trafford. The former English defender shared how Ronaldo will be fuming not to make it to the starting lineup on consecutive matches. “Whether he stays or not, none of us know. But knowing Cristiano, I know for a fact that he will be absolutely fuming right now. You don’t get to do what he’s done in his career over this amazing amount of time at the levels he’s been playing by being someone who’s going to accept not starting for a team that isn’t in the UEFA Champions League,” Ferdinand shared.
He then compared Ronaldo with David Beckham and how the English midfielder reacted to getting dropped. “Ronaldo is not built like that. You can’t expect him to change at 37. He’d have been the same at 21. We were talking before the game with [Paul] Scholes – I remember when [David] Beckham got dropped a couple of games, he [was] fuming. Superstars are built differently,” Ferdinand added.
Ronaldo has been linked with many clubs out of United but none of that got finalized. There were talks over a moveto Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid but things simply did not work out for Ronaldo to make the move. For now it looks like Ten Hag prefers a fluid role with Anthony Martial leading the lines along with Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho. He is trying to bring in more variety by signing Brazilian winger Antony from Ajax.
