Cristiano Ronaldo set a new international goals record this week by taking his tally to 111.
This broke Ali Daei’s record which had stood since 2006, with Ronaldo grabbing a late brace against Ireland to clinch the record.
Ronaldo is already the Champions League record goalscorer and will soon be running out of individual records to break.
Well, there is always a new challenge and his return to Manchester United gives him new objectives, team and individual.
Ronaldo will be looking to maintain his impressive record of scoring 20 plus league goals every single season since he left United.
While he scored 31 league goals for United in 2007/08, he followed this up with ‘just’ 18 the following year.
Ronaldo currently ranks 18th on Manchester United’s all time top scorers list. He will be looking to charge up this list.
In his sights will be his current Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ronaldo has 118 goals, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is ahead of him on 126, with Andy Cole on 121 in between.
Returning star Ronaldo could overtake Solskjaer’s tally by time 2021 comes to a close. It might just take a month.
A modest 20 goal season for Ronaldo would take him to 138 goals and become United’s 14th highest scorer of all time up from 18.
Could Ronaldo set Manchester United’s all time record?
Manchester United’s all-time record goalscorer is Wayne Rooney on 253 goals.
Rooney’s record is ‘probably’ safe providing Ronaldo only fulfils his two-year deal with an option of a third.
If Ronaldo ends up spending up to five seasons at United and is still playing at a high level into his 40s, then he may incredibly have a shot.
It makes you wonder what might have been if United had re-signed Ronaldo in 2018 when he left Real Madrid.
Ronaldo scored 101 goals in three seasons for Juventus, which would have taken his United goal tally to 219.
He would be pretty confident right now of surpassing former teammate Rooney.
As it stands, Rooney’s record is possibly too far ahead for Ronaldo, but he will give it a real good shot.
Ronaldo could quite well make it past Dennis Viollet’s record of 179 goals and move into Manchester United’s top five of all-time. That would be an achievement in itself.
If Ronaldo does score at the rate he did at Juventus and nets 100 over the next three seasons, he might start seriously staring down Rooney’s record as motivation to stay another couple of seasons.
The Portuguese forward is a machine and he uses records as motivation. Solskjaer’s tally of 126 is small fry, and one of the first milestones to check off upon his return.
Manchester United’s all time leading goalscorers
- Wayne Rooney
253
- Sir Bobby Charlton
249
- Denis Law
237
- Jack Rowley
211
- Dennis Viollet
179
- George Best
179
- Joe Spence
168
- Ryan Giggs
168
- Mark Hughes
163
- Paul Scholes
155
- Ruud van Nistelrooy
150
- Stan Pearson
148
- David Herd
145
- Cristiano Ronaldo
145
- Tommy Taylor
131
- Brian McClair
127
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
126
- Andy Cole
121
- Marcus Rashford
121
- Report: Striker Ten Hag wanted last summer now lined up to replace Zlatan
- Erik ten Hag makes ‘only team in the world’ claim about Manchester United
- Manchester United ‘confident’ as talks opened for Mason Mount
- Why Manchester United should sign Diogo Costa to replace De Gea
- Ten Hag target spotted watching Manchester United at Wembley
- Antony reacts to FA Cup final defeat
- Bruno Fernandes issues ‘bigger trophies’ promise to Manchester United fans
- Roy Keane gives verdict on signings Manchester United ‘need’
- Gary Neville instant reaction to disappointing FA Cup final loss
- Five things we learned as Manchester United lose the FA Cup final
- Why Manchester United will wear black shorts for FA Cup final
- Legend shares big worry over striker’s Manchester United move
- Manchester United ace admits his form is ‘not good’ ahead of FA Cup final
- Man Utd in the mix to unearth the next top South American striker who idolises Cristiano Ronaldo
- Guardiola highlights big change he’s noticed in ‘different’ Manchester United