Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has named the star who suffered the most during Cristiano Ronaldo's second spell at the club.
The Norwegian coach spent three years in charge the Red Devils after initially joining them as a caretaker manager in December 2018, before being appointed on a full-time basis in March 2019, and then departing the club in 2021.
During his permanent reign at Old Trafford, Ole led the club to third place in the 2019/20 campaign, second spot in the subsequent season, a UEFA Europa League final and brought back club legend Ronaldo, reportedly snatching him from the clutches of rivals Manchester City.
Opening up recently about that decision to recruit the Portuguese international in 2021, Solskjaer explained what happened after the attacker decide he was going to leave Serie A giants Juventus.
"They [the United hierarchy] asked me, 'Would you want us to try this?' I said yes – obviously we know Cristiano is quality, and he's 37, but we have to manage – he's the best goal scorer in the world," the 51-year-old said on the Stick to Football podcast.
He went on to add that despite feeling it was the right decision at the time, the move ended up not working out for either party.
The Red Devils legend explained that because of Ronaldo's arrival, the team's pressing style had to be tweaked and combinations at the attacking end of the pitch had to be changed, with Edinson Cavani getting the short end of the stick.
"Edinson Cavani was the one that suffered the most when Cristiano came in – we'd played and got Edinson into a certain way of understanding the way we played," Solskjaer continued.
"Cristiano, when you know him and speak to him, he wanted to play three out of four games, he realised he's getting older as well. But when you leave him out once, he's not happy.
“With the ball, with him in the team, it was no problem. Without him [in pressing situations], we had to change a little bit the different roles we'd gotten used to.
"We were one of the highest-pressing teams before [Ronaldo joined]. We let Dan James go when Cristiano came in, and they're two different types of players.
"It was the right decision to make for me – it didn't turn out to be the right one.
"When I was manager of Manchester United, I can't remember too many problems from Cristiano Ronaldo.
"It was the game against Everton when he walked straight off the pitch after I brought him on as a substitute, but there were more problems with him after I had left the club.
"I had a good relationship with Cristiano and there's loads of respect between us. I think he behaved really well in his disappointments when I was there."
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