Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United will benefit Mason Greenwood the most, claims Dimitar Berbatov… who insists Red Devils MUST win a trophy this season with ‘bar raised so high’ – but he backs Kane to score more goals than Portuguese!
- Dimitar Berbatov was Cristiano Ronaldo’s team-mate at Manchester United
- The pair spent one season together, where they won the Premier League
- The Bulgarian says Utd’s crop of youngsters should seek out Ronaldo’s advice
- Berbatov added that Utd’s season will be a simple ‘failure’ without silverware
- He also thinks Tottenham will surprise people this term in the Premier League
Former Manchester United forward Dimitar Berbatov insists Mason Greenwood should be the Red Devils player who benefits the most from Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United.
Berbatov played alongside Ronaldo during his final season at Old Trafford, with the pair winning the Premier League and Carling Cup together in the 2008-09 campaign.
Following the Portuguese’s dramatic return to the club at the age of 36 last month, the Bulgarian has had his say on how Ronaldo’s comeback will affect the squad, particularly the young players.
Dimitar Berbatov says ex-team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United will ‘raise the bar’ in training to the benefit of the club’s younger players
Berbatov believes forward Mason Greenwood will benefit the most from Ronaldo’s influence
While many have said how United’s attackers such as Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Greenwood may see their game-time limited following the Portuguese’s arrival, Berbatov does not see it that way.
‘Cristiano’s going to raise the bar with the other players in terms of the standard in training,’ said Betfair Ambassador Berbatov, who doesn’t remember Ronaldo ever missing an opportunity to train at United.
‘The most who will benefit will be Mason Greenwood. He is a natural finisher, he likes to cut in from the side and the way he strikes the ball it usually ends up in the back of the net like Ronaldo.
‘I’m hoping he will take that opportunity to go and ask for advice. If he is too shy then just observe, watch him prepare, train what does he eat? I hope he takes the chance to ask him whatever they like because it’ll raise his game for sure.’
Despite admitting at being ‘surprised’ by Ronaldo’s sudden return this summer, after he made it known he wanted a new challenge away from Juventus, Berbatov believes the bar has now been ‘raised so high’ that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must finally win a trophy this season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must win a trophy this season following Ronaldo’s arrival, says Berbatov
‘If they don’t win a trophy – doesn’t matter which one – it will be a failure,’ he stated.
‘They have to win something. They have a great team so the bar for Ole and the players is raised so very high now and the pressure is there. So if they don’t win anything it will be disappointing.
‘Ole has a luxury problem. Good luck explaining to his players that some of them won’t be playing. This is a problem I used to be part of.
‘He needs to be very smart how he rotates and approaches this problem. How will he spread the playing time around the players? You will try and keep everybody happy but this never happens.’
The Bulgarian, now 40, also compared his situation – when he left Tottenham for United on deadline-day in 2008 – to that of Harry Kane’s this summer, following speculation linking him with a move to champions Man City.
Yet not only did Berbatov plump for Kane to score more goals this season than Ronaldo, he also backed Nuno Espirito Santo’s side to surprise people this season – so long as they aren’t labelled as title contenders that is!
Yet Berbatov backed Harry Kane to score more goals than the five-time Ballon d’Or winner
‘I don’t like to speak about Spurs because they crack under pressure so hopefully they will be in the shadows, not spoken about title contenders – and then they will surprise everybody!’ he said.
‘Spurs usually have a big drop in performance, the title race is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
‘You need to win ugly, this is what makes champions. If they learn to do that, and don’t put pressure on people, I think they will surprise people.’
Dimitar Berbatov was speaking ahead of the launch of Betfair’s new VAR-Batov series, where the Premier League legend will be judging the unfair moments in football that affect so many punters. Watch the first in the series on Betfair’s twitter next week.
