“If he wasn’t there they’d be scoring the goals themselves” – Tyson Fury claims young players ‘don’t get their chance to shine’ due to Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United

A number of Manchester United fans believe Cristiano Ronaldo's return hasn't helped the club, with the level of several players in the team dropping drastically last season.

Boxing legend and top Red Devils fan Tyson Fury has echoed the same opinion, claiming that the Portuguese has overshadowed the young players at Old Trafford.

Manchester United endured a torrid outing over the course of the campaign, highlighted by their failure to secure a top-four spot in the Premier League table.

Despite rumors of a potential departure, Cristiano Ronaldo looks set to continue at Old Trafford next season and that has left Tyson Fury with mixed feelings.

He was quoted as saying by Mirror:

“It’s good news Ronaldo is staying on, but here’s a theory: when they didn’t have him the season before last, they finished second in the Premier League, then we had Ronaldo and we finished sixth.

"People will say, ‘Well, if we hadn’t had him scoring 20 goals we’d have finished a lot lower last season’, but we didn’t the season before and we finished a lot higher."

The legendary boxer went on to explain that Cristiano Ronaldo's domineering presence on the pitch is hindering the young players from bringing out their best.

He continued:

“When you have a superstar like Ronaldo, everybody relies on him to score goals and if he wasn’t there they’d be scoring the goals themselves, like they did the season before last.

"I’m not saying he’s a bad asset, he’s a great asset, but sometimes with a star player, he carries the team, and the young people are overshadowed by it all, they don’t get their chance to shine because ‘the great Ronaldo’ is on the pitch."

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Cristiano Ronaldo's numbers for Manchester United last season

The Portuguese wasted no time in making his impact felt after sealing a sensational return to Manchester United last summer. Ronaldo had a decent outing in front of goal, contributing 24 goals and three assists in 38 games across all competitions.

Unfortunately, the Red Devils endured a mediocre campaign, going trophyless and failing to finish in the top-four zone of the Premier League table. This has resulted in many claims that the team only went backwards with the attacker's arrival.

Now with Erik ten Hag at the helm of affairs at Old Trafford, it will be interesting to see how the five-time Ballon d'Or performs.