Latest Manchester United News: Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Manchester United, was not one of the players considered for the “Premier League Player of the Season” title. Rio Ferdinand, who was a previous member of the same club, thinks the player could take it personally for the same reasons.
Since re-joining the Red Devils in the summer of 2021, the 37-year-old has scored 18 goals in the league, the third-most of any player behind only Mohamed Salah (22) and Heung-min Son (21). The Portuguese footballer, despite his achievements, was not considered for the prize given to the best player of the season.
Ferdinand, who played alongside the United attacker for six years under Sir Alex Ferguson, stated that the latter did not deserve to be overlooked, at least not in favor of Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, who made the cut into the top eight nominations.
What did Rio Ferdinand say?
The statement was made by the 43-year-old on his program VIBE, which is hosted on YouTube (via News18):
“Saka’s name is being considered for Player of the Year? Saka had done as well as he has thus far. But, I wouldn’t have put him in there. Not in this season, and not at all, would I have put him in that spot ahead of Ronaldo. Who’s going to vote for that? Ronaldo ought to be in the lineup before at least three or four of those other men. Even if he doesn’t end up taking home the award, the fact that he was not even nominated is ludicrous.”
In addition to Kevin De Bruyne, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Joao Cancelo, Mohamed Salah and Son are all candidates for the award, as is Jarrod Bowen, the breakthrough star for West Ham United, and James Ward-Prowse, who plays for Southampton.
Even if his prospects of taking first place entirely were slim, the No. 7 player for Manchester United clearly had a good case against the other players, particularly those from Liverpool and Manchester City.
Latest Manchester United News: What will be Cristiano’s reaction?
The Portuguese may see the slight as a show of ‘disrespect,’ according to Ferdinand, who continued:
“He (Ronaldo) will see it as a disrespect. But these are the things that fire him. He will be thinking, ‘How could you?'” “He (Ronaldo) will take it as a disrespect. And because it is based on statistics, he responds by saying, I have slammed in more goals than most of them on that list other than (Mohamed) Salah, so what are you talking about?”
The date when the winners will be announced has not been set as of yet. However, the awards are often presented towards the end of May or the beginning of June. The previous year’s champion was the defender for Manchester City, Ruben Dias.
Despite his prolific record, Cristiano Ronaldo did not have a very successful season
The Portuguese forward didn’t have a very steady season. But he still managed to score 18 goals while playing for a Manchester United team that was terrible.
During the first part of their season, he scored a few goals. But after the new year and up until March, he struggled to score any goals at all. In only the most recent two months, he has been responsible for exactly half of his total. Six of the nine goals were scored in the games against Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City. They were all part of hat tricks.
