Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has been left red-faced by the club’s most in-form player at the moment, Marcus Rashford who proved one of the ex-defender’s predictions about Cristiano Ronaldo wrong. Ronaldo left the club in December post the World Cup as a result of his explosive interview with Piers Morgan wherein he slammed the Red Devils and accused them of ‘disrespecting’ him.
Since then, a lot has changed in the lives of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United. While the striker signed the richest contract in the history of any sport with Al Nassr which sees him earn £175m per-year through the summer of 2025, United too have moved on solidly and are now even being labelled as serious candidates for the Premier League after Arsenal and Manchester City.
Marcus Rashford equals Cristiano Ronaldo record to prove Ferdinand wrong
Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United after a number of incidents where he was at the crossroads with either the club or manager Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman was brought in to revolutionize and resurrect the club, and it appeared his first step was to instill some young blood in the team even if it meant benching the 38-year-old Ronaldo. Already irked with the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League, the Portuguese international’s frustration only grew due to his bench role.
However, with rumours and reports rife that Cristiano Ronaldo would imminently leave the Red Devils in the summer of 2022, Rio Ferdinand had predicted that the club won’t make a mistake of letting their topscorer from last season leave. While his prediction did come true as Ronaldo stayed through the summer, but the former defender then argued that United will not find a striker who would get them 24 goals (Ronaldo’s goal tally from 21/22 season) this season if they had let him leave.
Ferdinand had said in August last year:
“Manchester United are never letting him [Ronaldo] go right now. Where are they going to find 24 goals? If he starts, you have got a better chance of getting better performance. I would start Ronaldo up front, Rashford on the left, [Jadon] Sancho on the right.”
Ferdinand’s remarks have surfaced again, and his ’24 goal’ prediction about Cristiano Ronaldo in particular has now been proved wrong. Rashford, though, has shown that Ronaldo’s goals from 21/22 can be and have been replaced, as the England international has himself accumulated 24 goals so far this season, matching the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s record. Moreover, Rashford will now aim to surpass Ronaldo’s tally on Thursday when United play Barcelona in the second leg of their Europa League play-off.
Several fans and journalists have further argued that Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from the club has been a major contributing factor to Rashford’s surge in form. Once the ex-Real Madrid forward left, Rashford appeared to be in the best shape of his career, even managing to match his previous season’s best goal total (22) in just the month of February. Moreover, the 25-year-old is now managing a goal every 81.6 minutes without Ronaldo leading the line, in contrast to a goal every 331 minutes last season.