Manchester United should take a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson ’s playbook and let Cristiano Ronaldo go for the greater good this summer, according to Jamie Carragher.
Ronaldo’s contribution to United this season has been the subject of an ongoing debate ever since he arrived in a blockbuster transfer from Juventus in the summer.
The 37-year-old is comfortably the team’s top scorer with 15 goals in 27 appearances across all competitions this season.
However, his lack of involvement in Ralf Rangnick ’s pressing game, frequent showing of frustration on the pitch and apparent leaks to the media have caused problems.
Carragher has drawn a parallel with ex-United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was sold by Ferguson to Real Madrid in 2006, despite his outstanding record of 150 goals in 219 games for the club.
“No single player can ever be bigger than the club,” the former Liverpool defender wrote in his column for The Telegraph .
“And no-one knew that better than Sir Alex Ferguson who, in 2006, sold one of the Premier League most prolific goalscorers, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, because he felt the striker’s personal hunger for goals was inhibiting the progress of younger, emerging team-mates.
“Who reaped the rewards? Ronaldo, who thrived after Van Nistelrooy’s exit.
“Just like Van Nistelrooy 16 years ago, Ronaldo’s goal sprees have the capacity to make anyone deemed critical look foolish.
“It does not alter the fact that the next United manager will face the same issues as Rangnick in trying to keep him happy.”
Carragher believes the negatives outweigh the benefits with Ronaldo, due in part because of the attention he attracts from the outside.
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Ronaldo has frequently thrown temper-tantrums on the pitch and headed straight down the tunnel after a poor result this season.
The Portuguese forward tweeted after the 2-0 win over Brighton to encourage his team-mates after a few weeks of “noise” – but Carragher insists that noise is stemming from the man himself.
“Whether United wins, loses or Ronaldo scores or goes through a mini goal-drought, it is still too much about the CR7 brand and not enough about the team,” he wrote.
“After United’s midweek win, Ronaldo posted on social media about ‘the noise’ around the club. He cannot ignore where a lot of that noise comes from.”
Rangnick has been constantly battling with problems inside the United dressing room since taking over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November.
As The Mirror exclusively reported on Thursday, that involves a power struggle for the captaincy between Ronaldo and Harry Maguire.
Maguire has been left feeling marginalised by Ronaldo, who has positioned himself as the example-setter for the young players in the squad.
Rangnick decided to ask Ronaldo to guide United’s younger players, including Jadon Sancho, Scott McTominay and Marcus Rashford, in what has been seen by Maguire as a direct challenge to his authority as a leader.
