As reported by SkySports, Cristiano Ronaldo has stated that anything short of a top-three Premier League finish is unacceptable for Manchester United, and has stated that he is not at the club to play for seventh place.
United have had a poor season thus far, and interim manager Ralf Rangnick replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in December after devastating defeats to Leicester, Liverpool, and Watford.
Rangnick has stabilized the ship with four wins in seven games and only three goals drawn or lost, but they are still in seventh place in the Premier League, 22 points behind table-toppers Manchester City after just 19 games.
The home defeat to Wolves on January 3, after which defender Luke Shaw admitted he didn’t believe “we were all together” throughout the match, was probably the lowest moment of the German’s brief stint.
🗣 "I don't want to be here at the club to fight for 6th place. I'm here to try to win, to compete."
Cristiano Ronaldo feels Manchester United can achieve big things if they change their mentality pic.twitter.com/E1Pdx8byeL
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) January 13, 2022
When asked if United could narrow the gap on their top-four rivals if they didn’t have the right mindset, Ronaldo responded:
“Impossible – I think it’s the main point. I don’t accept that our mind is less than being in the top three in the Premier League. I think to build up good things, sometimes you have to destroy a few things. So why not – new year, new life and I hope that Manchester (United) can be the level that the fans want. They deserve that.”
“We are capable of changing things now. I know the way but I’m not going to mention it here because I don’t think it’s ethical on my part to say that. What I can say is we can do better – all of us. Manchester (United) belongs to important things, so we have to change that.”
“I don’t want to be here to be in sixth place, or seventh place, or fifth place. I’m here to try to win, to compete. “I think we compete but we are not yet at our best level. But we have a long way to improve and I believe if we change our minds, we can achieve big things.”
Rangnick has improved United’s results, but his team’s performances have been lacking, with his team scoring more than one goal in a game only once. Rangnick’s criticizes should give him time to implement his ideas at Old Trafford, according to Ronaldo.
United is currently seventh in the Premier League and fighting for a top-four finish after being tipped as title contenders in pre-season with the return of Cristiano Ronaldo and the additions of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane.
Ronaldo’s comment isn’t surprising as it is an ugly truth that United needs to level up and not sit with their current philosophies. Either they need new signings or they need to change their mentality in order to compete at the highest level.
