Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United was met with a mixed response in the summer, and that scepticism has continued for much of the season so far. There are plenty who see the 37-year-old as a hindrance to United’s attack, unable to influence games in the same way he did during his peak years.
For this reason, those same critics would have preferred that the club utilised the money spent to secure the services of a younger attacking prospect in the summer instead.
The reality though was that the right candidate, for whatever reason, wasn’t identified, and those in support of Ronaldo would point to his record in terms of goals this season as a fair justification for why the Red Devils took up the opportunity to bring him back at the start of the campaign.
