Cavani’s key to Ralf revolution
Veteran striker won’t join United exodus
EDINSON CAVANI must stay at Manchester United as interim boss Ralf Rangnick tries to limit the number of players who leave Old Trafford in this month’s transfer window.
Cavani is one of the United stars who have grown unsettled over the first half of the season, making just three starts.
The Uruguay striker agreed to sign on for a second year at Old Trafford before Cristiano Ronaldo made an unexpected return, and his opportunities have also been limited by a niggling tendon problem in his leg.
It has led to speculation over Cavani’s future amid interest from clubs in Europe and South America, but Rangnick insists he will not let him leave this month.
The German has spoken to Cavani at length and said that he ‘desperately’ wants him to stay until the summer because he is the only genuine target man in the squad. Rangnick started the 34-year-old alongside Ronaldo for only the second time this season in Thursday’s 3-1 win over Burnley and is likely to do so again when Wolves visit this evening.
‘Edi knows that I will definitely not let him go,’ said Rangnick. ‘He is a highly important player for the rest of the season. For me, it’s clear that Edi has to stay.
‘We’ve had quite a few conversations in the last couple of weeks. He is probably the player with whom I have spoken most.
‘I told him from the very first day that he is a highly important player. He is probably the only one who can play as a striker back to goal and face to goal. We are still playing in three competitions, so we will definitely need Edi. His professionalism and work ethic are amazing and I told him that I desperately want him to stay until the end of the season.
‘He knows how highly I rate him and respect him. That was also the reason why I played him from the beginning together with Cristiano (against Burnley).’
Anthony Martial, Dean Henderson, Donny van de Beek, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Phil Jones are keen to go out on loan this month. Rangnick admitted that Martial’s continued absence is due to the player’s desire to leave after United rejected an offer from Sevilla because it did not cover enough of his £200,000-a-week salary. Rangnick added: ‘It has nothing to do with injuries. He made it very clear that he wants to leave and, in a way, I can understand his wish to play more regularly somewhere else.
‘But, again, it’s also a question of which kind of clubs are interested in him and if they meet the demands of the club, so we have to wait and see.’ Van de Beek’s frustration has continued after he played just six minutes in four league games under the new manager, who is nevertheless keen for him to stay.
Rangnick said: ‘I had a longer conversation with him last week about that. Of course, it’s difficult for him right now because he also wants to play for the Dutch national team. He wants to play in the World Cup, and to do that he needs to get game time here.
‘But I still believe that we should keep him, that he should stay here, definitely until the end of this season and try to get as much game time as he possibly can.’
Mata and Jones may be allowed to leave this month but Rangnick wants three goalkeepers, so Henderson is set to stay.
Lingard will have to wait until he is a free agent in the summer when Cavani and Paul Pogba will also be out of contract. ‘I know from some players that they would want to leave,’ said Rangnick.
‘Our squad is maybe a bit too big but we still have Covid and three competitions. We could do with a bigger squad than maybe in times without Covid.’
AS HARRY Maguire continues to struggle, Manchester United would probably benefit from a new captain and in an ideal world the leading candidate would be Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 36year-old is the club’s best player. If he chose to lead others would follow.
Yet Ronaldo has not shown himself to be of that standard during his second spell at Old Trafford and that is a shame. So far, his season has been a curious mix of brilliance and irrelevance with the occasional moment of apparent contempt throw in.
Ronaldo’s return was not a mistake. He remains a brilliant footballer and may yet prove the difference between another bad United season and one that ends up being a little more rewarding.
The sadness is that Ronaldo has the opportunity to offer a little bit more than this, to leave behind a genuine legacy. This is a United team desperate for someone to show them the way. A group of players in need of someone to look up to.
But as they struggled in the rain at Newcastle last week, United got nothing from Ronaldo. They did not get much hard work or inspiration. There was no signal for them to lift their own standards as there was nothing remotely impressive about his own.
Ronaldo could have been sent off for a wild lunge at Sean Longstaff in the second half. All that did was add to the general sense of chaos around United’s football. And then, at full time, he was off down the tunnel without a handshake or a wave of acknowledgement to the couple of thousand United fans about to drive 150 miles home in abysmal winter weather.
Ronaldo has form for the latter offence. When United win — particularly if he has scored — then he is last off the pitch. Not so when things have not gone well.
Some say this kind of stuff does not matter but I think it does. It is OK to be angry when things have not gone well. Ronaldo cares, for sure. But currently he carries the air of a player who blames everybody else for his team’s struggles.
He doesn’t seem ready to accept that maybe he is partly responsible, too, and in the United dressing room that will have been noticed. It can do great damage.
Ronaldo is a United legend but that doesn’t mean he cannot do better.
Roy Keane remains one of Old Trafford’s most controversial figures and he made his own mistakes. But Keane — a little like David Beckham when he played for England — had a priceless knack of usually keeping his own playing levels high even when others were struggling. When a United player looked at Keane on the field, they more often than not found a player leading the way, setting a tone for others to follow.
From Ronaldo, nobody is getting that at the moment. He too often looks like a bloke who has turned up on holiday to find that the hotel wasn’t quite as good as it looked in the brochure. Maybe he just didn’t examine the United squad properly when he left Juventus. Maybe he thought he could fix everything just by putting the No 7 shirt back on.
If so, he was wrong. This United need more than some important goals and some old school glamour. They need dragging through the nettles by someone who can see a bigger picture.
Has Ronaldo got the stomach for that? He has the remainder of the season to show us.