Cristiano Ronaldo’s sensational return to Manchester United in the summer ruined now sacked boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans for the new season, according to Paul Merson.
The Portugal international returned to Old Trafford from Juventus in a £19.8million deal after the Norwegian – who was axed on Sunday after three years in charge – saw his side finish second behind Manchester City in the Premier League in 2020-21. But before the 36-year-old deadline-day arrival, United had handed a one-year extension to veteran striker Edinson Cavani and had signed Jadon Sancho in a £73m deal from Borussia Dortmund.
But Merson feels the latter two deals indicated Solskjaer’s plan to continue building on United’s counter-attacking style, which the ex-Arsenal midfielder believes is no longer plausible with Ronaldo up front.
The 53-year-old also claims United are not a better team with Ronaldo in it, and that he was only signed to keep him out of the clutches of their city rivals.
‘I feel sorry for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer,’ Merson wrote in his Sky Sports column.
‘He had a plan at the start of the season, having finished second last season. He’s chased Jadon Sancho for a long time, got him in, and he’s given Edinson Cavani another year.
“You could see his plan: you play Cavani every other game, you have Sancho on one side, Marcus Rashford on the other, you have Mason Greenwood coming in and swapping around, you have pace, power, energy, youth, skill, the lot.
‘Then, just before the season starts, he gets given Ronaldo. I think he’s thrown it all out of the window. From day one, they’re not a better team with Ronaldo in it.
‘You don’t go 29 games unbeaten away without playing a certain way, and bringing Sancho in gave them another weapon to play that way. With Ronaldo up there, you don’t have that weapon to play on the counter-attack any more. And Bruno Fernandes was their best player last season – he’s hardly had a touch this season!
‘It’s all snow-balled for Solskjaer. He had a plan, and the Ronaldo situation threw it all out of the window, just before the season started. They only went for him because they heard Man City were after him. It’s not like United were calling Juventus to ask if he’s available because Ronaldo is the missing link for United winning the Premier League. He isn’t!’
“They thought: ‘We can’t let him go to Man City – it’s bad enough them finishing above us every year in the league anyway!'”
Merson also insisted he was not ‘having a go’ at the former Real Madrid star and that he is very much a ‘legend’, but claims United need to assemble a team and not rely on ‘someone who stands up front and puts the ball in the net 20 times a season’ to win trophies.
But it is not the first time Merson had expressed this view, telling Sky Sports during the international break after their reverses by City and Liverpool: ‘He’s doing part of his job, I’ve said it on here before Man United are a better team without him in the team if I’m being honest.
‘If you want to play the way Man United play, what was it 28, 29 games unbeaten away from home playing attacking football with sheer pace, energy skill, they haven’t got that now.
‘When they played Man City last week, when they came out there was only one team winning that, it was embarrassing.
‘Much worse than the Liverpool game, it was shocking it was made even worse when Liverpool go to West Ham set up the way they did and played the way they did, at the moment they’re [Man United] are all over the place.’