Edinson Cavani believes Cristiano Ronaldo and David de Gea were Manchester United ’s two best players this season, despite the team being “inconsistent”.
United recorded their lowest ever Premier League points tally to come sixth in the top flight while finishing a fifth successive campaign without any silverware. The team struggled under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick and is now set to be overhauled by Erik ten Hag this summer.
Cavani is one of several players who endured a difficult season personally, with injuries limiting his impact. The 35-year-old striker managed just two goals and two assists in 20 appearances across all competitions and, like many of his team-mates, will leave the club once his contract expires at the end of June.
Before he departs, the Uruguayan striker was asked to reflect on the season and pick out the club’s best performer. He told the club website : “I think that the stand-out player for us this season, and someone who did show a little bit more consistency, playing well regularly and always being there for us, has been Cristiano.
“I think that, apart from having a short period when he wasn’t getting on the scoresheet, which can happen when you are a striker, Cristiano was probably our one player who showed the most consistency.
“After him comes David, as he has also been one of the most consistent performers in the squad, so together, they have been the most consistent and best players in the squad from our season this time around.”
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Ronaldo finished the season as United’s top goal scorer, with 24 goals in 38 appearances. While his goal scoring capabilities were never doubted, his lack of pressing was often called into question, especially following Rangnick’s arrival. The 37-year-old has another year left on his United contract and is set to stay put and work under Ten Hag next season.
United finished the season with a goal difference of 0, having conceded 57 to cancel out their goals scored. Despite their leaky defence, which struggled throughout the campaign under Harry Maguire’s leadership, De Gea still managed to come out of the season with credit in the bank. The Spaniard was kept busy in goal in his 11th year with the club and could be rewarded with a contract extension until June 2025, according to reports.
Overall, though, it was a miserable season for United and Cavani was frustrated by the team’s inability to put a run of results together. “I think that overall, this season, the team has been a little inconsistent throughout the entire campaign,” he added. “I don’t think that we ever managed to find that… how would you put it... that consistency during the season, whether it be in the group as a whole, or also on an individual basis.
“Sometimes it was down to injuries, other times it was down to the dips in form that we can go through as players. But I think it was an inconsistent season for us, very inconsistent, in every sense of the word I believe.”
