Former Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre believes the club doesn’t need to necessarily keep Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting XI in their next match against Leicester City. Erik Ten Hag had decided to keep Ronaldo on the bench in the team’s opening game of the season against Brighton and Hove Albion, which they went on to lose by 2-1.

Subsequently, the Portuguese striker was named in the starting XI against Brentford FC and the team faced an ignominious defeat of 4-0. However, Ronaldo was not picked in the first XI against Liverpool and Southampton as Ten Hag decided to back Anthony Elanga, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho in the attacking line.

The Red Devils stunned Liverpool by 2-1 and then won against Southampton by 1-0. Ergo, Erik Ten Hag is not expected to meddle with the winning combination.

Former French defender Mikael Silvestre said, “You know in football form comes and goes, at the moment it’s all positives, attacking and defensively. A clean sheet against Southampton away from home, one goal, and they scored two against Liverpool. Unless you need to rotate because it’s the rhythm of games. You need to freshen up the legs and the players to be fully fit.”

He added: “Maybe that could be the reason why there would be a change. Otherwise, in terms of performance, the team is winning so I don’t see any reason why we could see Harry and Cristiano back in the starting lineup.”

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo had scored 18 goals in the previous season of the Premier League for Manchester United and he was the team’s best performer. Furthermore, he also provided three assists.

However, Ronaldo is yet to open his account in the ongoing season for Manchester United.