Former Arsenal star, Paul Merson, has urged Manchester United’s next permanent manager to offload Cristiano Ronaldo if he wants to win the Premier League title.
Manchester United have been linked with Paris Saint-Germain’s Mauricio Pochettino and Ajax’s Erik ten Hag as they look for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s permanent replacement at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils had sacked Solskjaer last November and appointed Ralf Rangnick on an interim basis for the rest of the season.
But Merson says Man United’s next manager will not be as ‘soft’ as Solskjaer or Rangnick because Ronaldo has not helped anybody else in Man United’s squad, insisting that his presence has had a negative impact on many of his teammates.
“I don’t think the manager who’s coming in is going to be as soft. I don’t think it’s going to work with him [Ronaldo]. If you want to win the Premier League, that is not happening,” Merson wrote in a column for Sky Sports.
“I thought Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was weak, I think Ralf Rangnick is weak with the way it’s happened.
“Someone who’s coming in has got to be majorly strong. You are not going to win the league with a 37-year-old upfront, in my opinion.
“The worrying thing for Man Utd is he’s their best player and top scorer. You can’t say he hasn’t been a success – he’s the top scorer at Man Utd, the biggest club in the world, and he’s 37.
“But you’ve got to put it in perspective – Man Utd are there to win trophies, not just make numbers up and try to get fourth.
“He’s probably done his job, but him doing his job hasn’t helped anybody else. It might sound silly because he’s done well, but that means no one else has done well.”
