Ronaldo dependencia: Man Utd are totally reliant on Cristiano
Robin Bairner
- 8 Jul 2022 09:26 BST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo will not be on the Manchester United plane that jets off to Thailand for the club’s pre-season tour – and that spells ominous news for the club as he seeks a transfer.
The Portugal international has yet to take part in pre-season training this summer, with the official line that he is back at home due to family reasons.
Ronaldo, though, is pushing for a move away from Man Utd just a year after returning to the club in a blaze of glory.
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While his individual performances have been impressive, that of the team has been dreadful. United created a hole string of unwanted records last season, but the big issue was that they finished sixth in the standings and missed out on Champions League football.
At 37, Ronaldo wants to be playing in Europe’s leading competition and believes that he can still contribute to a winning team.
Man Utd are reticent to let him go – and it’s easy to see why looking at his numbers from last season. Barcelona were once said to suffer from ‘Messidependencia’ – the phenomenon that they could not play without Lionel Messi – but it now appears that it is the Old Trafford club who are being single-handedly carried by Ronaldo.
Ronaldo critical to Man Utd
The figures for United are stark and also serve to underline just how important Ronaldo is for them
For example, Ronaldo won 14 points with his goals last season. That is more than any other player in the league. In all competitions, he netted 24 times. Only Bruno Fernandes otherwise made it into double figures for the Old Trafford club – and even he did so only just, scoring 10 times.
Meanwhile, the comparison of Man Utd’s fortunes with and without Ronaldo emphasises his importance.
Man Utd with and without Ronaldo
| With Ronaldo | Without Ronaldo | |
|---|---|---|
| Games | 30 | 8 |
| Won | 14 | 2 |
| Drawn | 7 | 3 |
| Lost | 9 | 3 |
| Ave goals scored | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Ave points per game | 1.6 | 1.1 |
United only won two of their eight matches without him, picking up 1.1 points per game on average. Over the course of the whole season, that translates to a campaign of around 42 points – a figure that would have put them just above the relegation zone.
Little wonder Man Utd don’t want to see Ronaldo go: they were totally dependent on him.
