Gary Neville says Manchester United profit more from Weghorst than Ronaldo

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville says though Wout Weghorst may not be on the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo, the former has brought more profit to the club than the Portuguese.

Manchester United decided to release Portuguese superstar Ronaldo as a free agent in November 2022, and as a result, made moves to strengthen their attacking lines during the January transfer window.

Their presence on the transfer market in the winter saw the Red Devils acquire the services of the Netherlands international.

The signing of Weghorst only looks like a short-term plan for Erik ten Hag’s team with the forward scoring just two goals in 19 appearances.

While at Manchester, Ronaldo made more of a collaborative effort, but Neville spoke to Sky Sports about Weghorst’s role in enhancing the performance of the team.

“I called him a placeholder because United didn’t invest in a striker United would want. This experiment has to stop, Weghorst has to come out, it can no longer go on, the reason he continues to play and why Ronaldo is no longer at the club, you see his 19 starts against Ronaldo’s 19 starts.

“Weghorst has 12 wins, four draws, three defeats, he has only scored two goals but the team has scored 37 goals, with Ronaldo it was 19 starts, they won three less games, drawn three, lost four more with him in the team, he scored 11 but the team itself only scored 23, they are massive differences. It is the strangeness of football is having a player who isn’t good enough to be a Manchester United forward but has brought more profit to the team. I believe he (Ronaldo) is the greatest player of all time.”

The Hall of Fame nominee also added that Weghorst is nowhere close to the player Ronaldo is but explained why he has featured regularly for United.

“I think ultimately the reason he left Ronaldo out was because of the stats, I think it is clear Weghorst isn’t fit to lace Ronaldo’s boots but those are stark stats playing in same period with same team-mates, he was really poor on Sunday, he shouldn’t be there, but the reason he is there is because of those stats.”