Ole Gunner Solskjaer admits Edinson Cavani ‘suffered’ when Manchester United brought Cristiano Ronaldo back to the Premier League during the summer of 2021.
Say what you want about the enduring qualities of two of the modern game’s most iconic goalscorers, it’s never a particularly positive reflection on a club’s squad building when they find themselves with two centre-forwards in their mid-30s battling for a place in the starting XI.
And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was the Manchester United manager when a 36-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo made his emotional homecoming, admits that the return of the prodigal son was bad news for the 34-year-old Edinson Cavani.
Solskjaer brought Ronaldo back to Man United
Cavani, the former PSG and Napoli talisman, suddenly found himself downgraded from United’s leading man to an experienced back-up. He even lost his number seven shirt, managing only two goals in his final 20 Red Devils games before departing via the back door.
“Edinson Cavani was the one that suffered the most when Cristiano came in,” Solskjaer tells Gary Neville’s The Overlap podcast. “We got Edinson into a certain way of understanding the way we played.”
Ronaldo’s fierce desire to play every minute imaginable, Solskjaer adds, further reduced Cavani’s role in a United squad who found themselves wedded to the whims of the preening Portuguese.
“Cristiano, when you know him and speak to him, he wanted to play three out of four games,” the Norwegian adds. “He realised he’s getting older as well.
“But when you leave him out once, he’s not happy!”
Cavani was not helped of course by ongoing injuries, with Ronaldo’s return only part of the problem he faced. He made only 15 appearances in the Premier League in his final season at United, seven of which were starts. Although there was a suspicion among fans that he was ‘put out’ with Ronaldo arriving, and not pushing himself to play.
Edinson Cavani ‘suffered’
Cavani, like Ronaldo, is still going strong even as he closes in on his 40th birthday. The Uruguay international ended a recent goal drought with a rapid-fire hat-trick as Argentine giants Boca Juniors defeated Belgrano last weekend.
39-year-old Ronaldo, meanwhile, is the top scorer in this season’s Saudi Pro League. The Al-Nassr frontman has 22 goals in 20 top-flight games, leading the Golden Boot race ahead of Aleksandr Mitrovic and former Tottenham misfit Georges-Kevin Nkoudou.
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