The extent of Manchester United's reliance on Cristiano Ronaldo for goals this season has been revealed.
Ronaldo is United's leading scorer with 24 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions this term. The forward endured his longest goal drought for over a decade across the hectic festive period but he's since emphatically put an end to that barren run.
The 37-year-old was nominated for the Premier League's Player of the Month award for April despite being unavailable for two matches in the month. Ronaldo scored five goals in four games against Everton, Norwich, Arsenal and Chelsea.
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Ronaldo has shown no signs of slowing down and only Mohamed Salah (22) and Son Heung-Min (20) have more goals than him (18) in the Premier League. Ronaldo has often single-handedly won United matches with his goals.
Edinson Cavani has struggled with injury and Mason Greenwood has been unavailable, which has left Ronaldo to shoulder the burden of scoring. Ronaldo has risen to that challenge but United's over-reliance on him is concerning, as per new data revealed by BritishGambler.
Ronaldo has scored 31.6 per cent of United’s goals this term, which is the third most reliant any United side has been on a player since the Premier League began. This record is only beaten by Ronaldo’s true breakout season and Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2002/03.
United over reliance on Ronaldo this season
Season |
Top Scorer |
Top Scorer Goals |
% of Team Goals |
2007/08 |
Ronaldo |
31 |
38.75% |
2002/03 |
Van Nistelrooy |
25 |
33.78% |
2021/22 |
Ronaldo |
18 |
31.58% |
2016/17 |
Ibrahimovic |
17 |
31.48% |
2003/04 |
Van Nistelrooy |
20 |
31.25% |
The average for the previous 29 seasons of Premier League football, has been for United’s top scorer to account for just 25 per cent of the team’s goals, which proves that Ronaldo hasn't received much goal-scoring support from teammates this season.
Although Erik ten Hag is expected to include Ronaldo in his plans, United are in the market for a new centre-forward this summer.
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