Jamie Carragher has branded Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United a ‘joke’ and believes he will be a ‘problem’ for incoming manager Erik ten Hag.
The 37-year-old bagged his second hat-trick of the campaign against Norwich City last time out to take his tally for the season to 15 league goals, while he also netted six times in the Champions League.
But despite Ronaldo being United’s top scorer, Liverpool legend Carragher still believes the signing was a mistake and could create issues for Ten Hag.
Speaking to SPORTbible, he said: ‘Where do you go right now if you’re Man United? You’ve got a 37-year-old Ronaldo, who’s still got another year to go, and a new manager is coming in who’s going to want to buy a new centre-forward.
‘I think Ronaldo, for how great a professional he is and what a player he’s been, I think he could be a problem.
‘I’ve been disappointed with Ronaldo, not about the goals – you know he gets goals – but I’d have liked him to be more of a leader if I’m being honest. I’m not really bothered if he gets the odd goal.
‘I just think sometimes, looking back at the Everton game, he was throwing his arms up at players and kicking balls out. We all get frustrated, we all do silly things on the pitch when we’re frustrated, but I’d love to have seen him lift the younger players up and that’s been lacking a little bit.’
He continued: ‘It reminds me a little bit of when Everton got Wayne Rooney, where you know he’s not at his best. Everton haven’t got too much to shout about, but at least they’ve got Rooney back and he might do a couple of things. But this is Man United!
‘Man United should be buying someone who’s 27 not 37, someone who’s the next Ronaldo. And it just smacked of where the club was, the big fanfare about Ronaldo being back, all this excitement, but really everyone knew it wasn’t going to push them any closer to the title.
‘Having watched Ronaldo, I still think if you judge all of United’s outfield players he’s still been one of the best – if not the best – because he’s the one who’s had four or five moments this season where you go, “Wow!”
‘For Ronaldo to be playing at one of the biggest clubs in the world at 37 and still having an impact, it’s unbelievable. But for Man United to buy Ronaldo, I just thought it was a joke.
‘It was either a panic because they thought City were going to get him – whether they got kidded by that or this thing of getting Ronaldo back and everyone’s excited, the social media, all the fans. I thought it was a bit embarrassing.’
