Man Utd: Ten Hag 'definitely rates 26 y/o star above' Ronaldo at Old Trafford

Manchester United forward Anthony Martial is “definitely above” Cristiano Ronaldo in the striker pecking order at Old Trafford, claims journalist Dean Jones.

Ronaldo has lost his place in United’s starting XI, with manager Erik ten Hag so far preferring Marcus Rashford.

Martial has missed practically all of United’s games in this early part of the campaign due to injury.

Ronaldo, on the other hand, has been available. However, Ten Hag has overlooked the Portugal international in recent weeks.

In total, he has made just one start in the Premier League for the Red Devils, their humiliating 4-0 defeat to Brentford last month.

In the absences of Martial and Ronaldo, Rashford has been tasked with leading the line for United and has not disappointed, scoring against both Arsenal and Liverpool.

Jones has told GIVEMESPORT that when Martial is fit, he is United’s first-choice No.9, which will come as bad news to Ronaldo.

Speaking to GMS, the journalist said: “In terms of a striker role, Martial is definitely above Ronaldo. I mean, Martial’s the first-choice striker if he’s fit and ready to go. In pre-season, he was looking good.

“Everything they worked on was Rashford, Sancho, Martial, and if those players are available, then those are the three, as well as Antony, competing for those starting roles.”

It depends. The 26-year-old obviously has a lot of talent and is a capable goalscorer on his day. In total, he has scored 79 times for United, with 23 of those strikes coming back in the 2019/20 season.

However, if Rashford can maintain the current form he is in, it is hard to look past the England international.

As well as that, it probably would not be wise to completely leave Ronaldo out of the equation either. While the former