Ronaldo's goals last season 24 in 38 appearances counted for little as United finished in the sixth position in the Premier League and failed to win a trophy, but a bad season would probably have been much worse without the 37-year-old's. Contributions during a campaign that saw the team play under three managers and lurch from one crisis to another. Yet football moves quickly, and as he approaches the first anniversary of his return to United from Juventus, Ronaldo has become yesterday's man. It is clear that Ronaldo is now a bit-part player with no obvious role beyond that of a malcontent on the substitutes' bench. Manchester United are yet to prove that they can live without Ronaldo's goals as Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Jadon Sancho, and Anthony Elanga still to show prolonged consistency up front. 

There is obviously now a bigger picture than Erik Ten Hag the United manager and the club needs to survey and that can't include Ronaldo and his goals. Back in 2006 Sir Alex Ferguson, the then manager of Manchester United let go of Ruud van Nistelrooy letting him leave for Real Madrid despite him having scored 150 goals in 219 appearances for the club. He later revealed that he sanctioned Van Nistelrooy's exit because the player had become a brooding presence in the dressing room and was, in particular, stifling the development of a young teammate: Ronaldo. "Ruud had started to mouth off all the time to [coach] Carlos Queiroz about Ronaldo," Ferguson wrote in his autobiography. "There were a few altercations all the way through his final season with us, but it was mainly Van Nistelrooy on Ronaldo."

More than one and half a decade later, there is now similarities between Van Nistelrooy's departure and the situation United now face with Ronaldo. While there are no question marks over Ronaldo's professionalism and fitness, sources indicate that over months, he has become a divisive figure within the squad. Sources have said that Ronaldo has been unable to accept that the United side he rejoined was a world apart from the one he left in terms of the caliber of the squad and the personalities within it. Ronaldo expects the likes of Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford to perform like Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney and makes no allowances for their obvious shortcomings. When Ronaldo's possibility to leave United was made public in July, sources indicate that it was one received with joy by the majority of his teammates. 

Ronaldo missed the Thailand pre-season tour as Erik Ten Hag was fostering unity within his squad. He said that he missed the pre-season due to “personal reasons." As soon as he returned to action he angered his manager by leaving Old Trafford at halftime in a pre-season friendly against Rayo Vallecano. He has so far registered just 153 minutes, and no goals, in four games this season. Having been greeted as a returning hero just 12 months ago, Ronaldo is now a source of friction in the dressing room. He is also failing to offer his new manager a positive football reason to select him in the starting XI. So why is he still at Old Trafford? If Ronaldo was a less expensive proposition, clubs would undoubtedly emerge to sign him, so United now have a big decision to make. They must either choose to keep up with the “negative energy" he is spreading within the squad or let him go by accepting an offer far much less than the player is worth. Keeping him until the end of his contract hoping that the problems will go away can prove to be an even more expensive gamble. Looking at the situation from a football perspective, there is only one decision that Manchester United can make.