Ronaldo's Time Under Zidane is Frightening

After a busy summer at Old Trafford with the marquee signings of Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho, and of course, Cristiano Ronaldo himself, a big season was expected on the red side of Manchester.

However, a recent poor run of form has left many speculating whether Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's time as Manchester United boss may well be coming to an end. One man whose name seems to be continually mentioned is Real Madrid and France legend, Zinedine Zidane, who famously led Madrid to three consecutive Champions League titles, a feat no other manager has accomplished with any club.

This record-breaking team was of course spearheaded by Ronaldo who as mentioned now plies his trade in Manchester leaving many wondering if Zidane is the right man to bring glory back to United and get the best out of the Portuguese forward.

Under Zidane, Ronaldo scored 112 goals and provided a further 30 assists in 114 appearances which equates to 1.23 goal contributions per game.

Although these are astronomical numbers, under Zidane, Ronaldo actually delivered his poorest goal contributions in his time at Madrid with now current boss Carlo Ancelotti getting his best return rate of 1.57 goal contributions per game when he managed Ronaldo. This more or less comes with the theory of age playing a factor, as Ronaldo's game developed from the relentless goalscoring nature to more of a clinical striker. Nevertheless, it's still an outrageous record and one which near enough no player can match.

Despite this, under Zidane, the current United man still scored 72 La Liga goals and netted 32 times in the Champions League, including an unforgettable overhead kick against Juventus. More importantly for Ronaldo and Real, the main thing to note with his goal contributions under Zidane is how this resulted in many, many trophies.

Despite putting up his worst goal contributions with Zidane at the helm, this was far from reflected in the haul of trophies collected. Ronaldo and co-delivered a further three Champions Leagues, two La Liga titles, a Spanish Super Cup, a UEFA Super Cup, and two Club World Cup titles returning Real Madrid to the serial winners they once were. In theory, it remains the most successful period of any European club since the rebranding of the Champions League in 1992.

Aside from team accolades, both Zidane and Ronaldo received heavy individual praise during this time, with Ronaldo collecting two of his five Ballon d'Or trophies in this period being recognised as the world’s best footballer. Zidane was also twice awarded the highest managerial honour in these same years being named the world's best coach in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons consecutively.

Considering his albeit short record in management, it might seem ludicrous to suggest that Zidane wouldn’t be able to turn this out of form United team around to deliver some much-needed silverware, something Solksjaer has failed to do in his spell at the club.

However, despite Ronaldo being at Zidane’s disposal, other long-standing members of his famed Madrid side could be large omissions withwith Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Marcelo, and Karim Benzema, to name a few, not being on the Old Trafford payroll.

Yes, Ronaldo may have been the spearhead and quite frankly dragged his Madrid teammates to success at times throughout Zidane’s tenure, but no one can argue the importance of his star-studded support cast. That being said, United house a fair share of stars themselves including Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba, and of course, former Real teammate, Varane.

Although there is rhyme and reason for Zidane’s name being thrown in the hat for the United job, a lack of experience could ultimately be costly and in truth, it doesn't really go too far away from what is seemingly been Solskjaer's main problem throughout his three years at Old Trafford.

Despite being an undoubtedly astute man-manager and relentless winner as a player and manager and already having faced a tough challenge in his second spell in Madrid, Zidane would be walking into what is frankly a sinking ship in Manchester.

Coupled with his inexperience, this need for instant success may see the United board turn to more practiced hands when it comes to mid-season saviours, such as Antonio Conte. The Italian won the Premier League and FA Cup in just two seasons at Chelsea, and despite Zidane boasting more, an analytical look at his period at Real doesn't quite translate to success with a club that is in tatters on the pitch and may need a few years for the youngsters to grow first.