Cristiano Ronaldo decided to return to Manchester United last summer – but his second spell at the club hasn’t gone to plan.
Ronaldo left United for Real Madrid in 2009 after helping them win the Champions League in 2008 and three successive Premier League titles.
But United have been on a downward spiral since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 and Ronaldo has been unable to fix their problems this time around.
The Red Devils finished sixth in the Premier League in 2021-22 and the Portugal international was reportedly shocked at the huge drop in standards at United. He’s now looking to leave Old Trafford once again before the end of the transfer window.
We’ve taken a look back at United’s squad in 2008-09 and compared it with their current side in 2022-23. Note: we’ve only included players that were first-team regulars.
Goalkeepers
Despite celebrating his 38th birthday at the start of the 2008-09 season, Edwin van der Sar was still at the peak of his powers.
The former Netherlands international recorded 21 clean sheets in the Premier League in 2008-09 and famously went 1,311 minutes without conceding a league goal.
He was also shortlisted for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award and won the Best European Goalkeeper award from UEFA, 14 years after he first won it at Ajax.
United had back-up goalkeepers in Tomasz Kuszczak and Ben Foster, with the latter producing a man-of-the-match performance in their 2009 League Cup final victory.
The current No.1 at Old Trafford is David de Gea, who was signed as a direct replacement for Van der Sar back in 2011.
He was once regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world but has allowed mistakes to creep into his game in recent years and is arguably past his peak.
Ronaldo became frustrated with the Spain international during the 2021-22 season, telling him to catch the ball instead of punching it during a 3-1 win over Brentford before handing out more advice in a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid.
Tom Heaton, who has made just one first-team appearance for United, acts as back-up to De Gea and fellow goalkeeper Dean Henderson is currently on loan at Nottingham Forest.
READ: Ranking Man Utd’s 23 Premier League keepers from worst to best
Defenders
United had the best centre-back in the world on their books during the 2008-09 campaign as Nemanja Vidic won the Premier League Player of the Season award and earned a place in the FIFA FIFPro World XI.
He also had a pretty good partner in…
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