Manchester United must heed Juventus warning as Cristiano Ronaldo problems persist

It’s fair to say that the honeymoon period from Cristiano Ronaldo’s emotional return to Old Trafford has long since worn off.

He was dropped for the 1-1 draw against Burnley at Turf Moor in favour of Edinson Cavani and the decision seemed vindicated for a period. Manchester United took a 1-0 lead through Paul Pogba, but the home side levelled things up with a goal from Jay Rodriguez minutes into the restart.

Ronaldo came on for around 22 minutes of the game but was unable to turn the single point into three, and it now leaves United a point behind West Ham in the battle for fourth place, but with a game in hand.

Following the bright start to his second stint in Manchester in which the goals flowed, things have gradually deteriorated.

Many United fans overlooked Ronaldo’s shortcomings by the mere fact that he was back at the club after 12 years away. The emotion, not to mention the nature of the return, had initially overridden any concerns about how he would impact the side’s overall play under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

After the flurry of goals in the beginning - 10 goals in all competitions in the first two months - the well has started to run dry.

Ronaldo has scored two goals in the last two months and has yet to open his account this calendar year.

And at this stage of his career, if Ronaldo isn’t scoring goals, he really isn’t offering much else.

This was evident for much of his time at Juventus and, ultimately, the paradox of his time in Serie A. Ronaldo scored goals, lots of them, but his presence at Juve made the team regress with each passing season.

They became more predictable and having Ronaldo negated any cohesion or fluidity that coaches Max Allegri, Maurizio Sarri and then Andrea Pirlo tried to instil.

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