How Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot accuracy at Manchester United compares to the league’s top scorers

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Cristiano Ronaldo is Manchester United’s top goalscorer this season – but doesn’t it seem like he has missed an awful lot of chances lately?

His close range miss against Leeds was just the latest in a series of misses by Ronaldo, which can be added to having a shot cleared off the line against Southampton and his penalty miss against Middlesbrough.

While he scored in the win over Brighton, he should have had a hat-trick, had he not missed two subsequent easier chances.

Ronaldo’s record could be improved

Ronaldo has scored with 17 per cent of his shots in the Premier League this season. Per BBC Sport, this is broken down into nine goals from 52 shot attempts.

Among the 15 players with eight Premier League goals or more, Ronaldo has the lowest shooting accuracy.

Premier League top scorer Mohamed Salah has been more clinical, scoring 24 per cent of his shots, with Raheem Sterling on 26 per cent.

Watford striker Emmanuel Dennis has scored nine goals with 28 per cent of his shots, while United teammate Bruno Fernandes has also been more clinical.

Fernandes has scored nine league goals from 24 per cent of his shots, while Leicester’s Jamie Vardy has netted with 30 per cent of his efforts.

Focus will increase on Ronaldo

Ronaldo is 37 and to be leading the line for United is an arduous task for any player, let alone one his age. There is no doubt he is capable, and his link-up play has been improved over the past month.

But he will know better than anybody, he has to be more ruthless in front of goal and finish the easy chances he is being presented with.

Ronaldo will be disappointed at his goal return of just nine goals in 22 Premier League games so far this season.

While he has 15 goals in all competitions thanks to a stunning record of six in five Champions League games, there is some improvement he has to make.

And this is the crux of the issue, whether Ronaldo can improve, or whether at the age of 37, he risks stagnating or regressing.

We have learned over the years never to write off Ronaldo, but the test of time is one opponent he may simply not be able to beat.

With a new manager set to arrive in the summer, how Ronaldo ends the season could have a major bearing in his Manchester United future.