Rashford, Martial & Sancho push Ronaldo to quit Man Utd
FT Desk
- Updated: 10 Aug 2022 20:42 BST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo’s request to leave Manchester United has become one of the transfer sagas of the summer in 2022.
Ronaldo demanded a transfer away from United as he wants to play for a club who are competing in the Champions League.
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Cristiano is also worried about Man Utd’s ability to challenge for trophies this season, concerns that will have increased after the 2-1 defeat at home to Brighton on the first day of the season.
The 37-year-old started on the bench that game after conducting himself appallingly this summer.
Ronaldo failed to join Man Utd on their pre-season tour for family reasons and also went home at half-time during the friendly against Rayo Vallecano.
But there is another reason why Ronaldo wants to leave Man Utd – and that is because of the shocking form of the attacking players around him.
Despite Ronaldo scoring an impressive 24 goals in all competitions last season, he managed to do this despite the supporting cast miserably failing to assist him in any way.
The form of Ronaldo's teammates in attack
Marcus Rashford has not provided an assist for Man Utd since February 12 and has gone 13 games without scoring or creating a goal. His last goal was in January, 16 matches ago.
Bruno Fernandes has not provided an assist for Man Utd since February, also. He has no assists and just one goal (against Brentford) in his last 13 matches.
Jadon Sancho was Man Utd’s big signing a year ago but ended a dreadful first season. He has no goals or assists in his last seven matches, dating back to March.
Indeed, last season he went the months of August, September, October, December, January, April and May without registering a goal or assist for Man Utd. In only three months of the season did he contribute to any goals
Another highly-touted attacking youngster is Anthony Elanga, who gained a lot of playing time in the second half of last season. But he has shown he is not ready yet either as he has not scored for Man Utd since February, playing in 13 games since then. He has just the two assists in 22 games for the club.
Finally, there is the returning Anthony Martial. His form over the past two seasons has been terrible, with only five league goals. He did not score in La Liga whilst spending the second half of last season on loan at Sevilla, meaning he has no league goals in 2022 (he did score once in the Europa League in February). In total, he has one goal and one assist this year, both in February. In fact, he has just two club goals and one assist in the last EIGHTEEN months.
Given the dreadful form of the attackers and attacking players around him, it is no surprise that Ronaldo is looking to leave.
He clearly feels that the supporting cast are not up to his level – and the numbers would support this view.
