Michael Owen has said that Manchester United’s use of Cristiano Ronaldo borders on ‘abuse’, adding that they want to turn the 5-time ballon d’Or winner into an average player.
Ronaldo was only introduced late into the second half in United’s 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The Portugal international has scored ten goals in 15 appearances for the Red Devils so far this season.
And Owen noted that the former Real Madrid forward is often left to run the side’s attack and says the lack of support he gets is ‘abusive’.
Asked whether he’d like to play in United’s team, Owen told Premier League Productions: “No you can’t! We were at Old Trafford for the City game the other day and all of a sudden it’s just exactly the same they leave Cristiano Ronaldo up front on his own. That’s almost abuse!
“Having someone that good in your team and then playing everyone defensively and saying ‘That’s alright we’ll just hope he nicks a goal’ he’ll end up being average.
“If you leave him and all these good players or just two of them playing and everyone else defending they’ll start putting in bad performances because they’ve got nobody to pass to, they’ve got no options, they’re chipping the ball form 50 yards away. They need other players to come up and help them.
“It’s almost abusing the good players they’ve got and that’s the last thing you’ve got to do. If anything, expose the rubbish! Find ways of getting world class players in your team, get Pogba, get Fernandes, get Ronaldo, get them as best as you can.
“If you let a few goals in because Bailly’s not great or Wan-Bissaka or whoever it may be then fine you can replace them but at the minute because they’re nervous and scared they just bulk up with sitting midfielders and more defenders and abuse the great players up front leaving half of them on the bench and one or two to play, they’ve got no chance!”
