Cristiano Ronaldo will pull on the Manchester United shirt for the first time in over 12 years on Saturday, with the five-time Ballon d Or winner all set for his second Red Devils debut.
Ronaldo secured his return to United at the end of the most recent transfer window, with the deal reportedly set to cost an initial £12.9million (€15m).
But it s fair to say the player United have re-signed is rather different to the one they sold for a then world-record fee.
Then a flying winger, Ronaldo has adapted his game as he s grown older and is now a clinical penalty box poacher – diminishing goal returns he may have, but 36 in all competitions last season would still have had him as the leading goalscorer in English football.
Saturday s visit of Newcastle United will provide Ronaldo with the opportunity to make his return, and ahead of that match, Stats Perform has used Opta data to look at how the formerly flamboyant trickster has altered his game since his Old Trafford departure in 2009.
Positional sense
In his final league game with United – a goalless draw against Arsenal in May 2009 – Ronaldo played on the right, though was given license to roam infield and exert his influence, as had been the case for much of a season in which he scored 26 goals across all competitions.
However, only five of his touches on the day came inside Arsenal s penalty area, with the majority out on the right wing and a cluster from an advanced, central position.
Contrast that appearance with his final Serie A start for Juve back in May, when he scored in a 3-2 Derby d Italia triumph against Inter: only three touches in the area but fewer overall, heavily weighted to the centre of the pitch.
It speaks to the way Ronaldo has greatly changed his game over the past 12 years.
During his time at United, he netted 115 goals in all competitions, making him the club s leading scorer in that six-year span from 2003 to 2009. In his final season at Old Trafford, Ronaldo scored eight goals from outside of the area – a feat he matched in four of the next five seasons and surpassed in the other, with 10 in 2011-12 (his third season at Madrid).
Yet by his final season at Juve, Ronaldo had refined his game to become the poacher United are adding to their squad. Across his three seasons at Juve, the 36-year-old scored just seven times from outside the area, from a total of 101 goals.
Wing wizard to penalty box king
During his formative years at United, Ronaldo s mazy dribbling and eye for a showboat caught the eye. It is no surprise, then, to see the numbers back this up. In 2004-05, he attempted 9.55 dribbles per 90 minutes, a career high.
As he grew in stature, adapted to the rigours of English football and became a more powerful presence, rather than the wiry winger that burst onto the scene, Ronaldo s dribbling figures dropped – 8.22 in 2005-06, 5.65 the following year and 6.28 in 2007-08.
By 2008-09, Ronaldo s attempted dribbles per 90 were down at a relatively modest 4.73, completing 1.92. By the end of his last year at Juve, Ronaldo was down to 3.07 dribbles per 90, though his success rate of 61.7 per cent ranks as the highest in his career. He has not lost the ability to dribble, but rather picks his moments to do so.
Of course, there is less need for taking on the opposition when you are positioned in the opposition s area, ready to pounce on a cross or run onto a throughball.
Ronaldo s adaptation into a number nine had started before his move to Turin. Indeed, in his final campaign with Madrid, Ronaldo registered 1,913 touches in total, with 409 of these coming in the opposition s area – his highest total in the box in a single campaign.
Contrast that figure with his totals from his second season in the Spanish capital – just 82 of his 3,344 touches came inside the opponent s box as he scored 60 times in all competitions, a tally he bettered in 2014-15 (61).
The 2014-15 season was undoubtedly Ronaldo s zenith. Turning 30 halfway through the campaign, he was at his best in front of goal and creatively. His 21 assists were a career high, as were the 97 chances created.
If United are looking for a creative force now, though, they have chosen the wrong forward.
Ronaldo s 2008-09 season saw him create 82 opportunities and lay on 10 assists (at an average of 1.71 and 0.21 per 90). Last term, he created a career-low 1.15 chances per 90, with his average of 0.12 assists each game better only than the previous campaign with Juve.
Ronaldo averaged 50.6 touches per 90 in 2020-21, with 6.8 in the penalty area. In only four seasons, all at Madrid, did the Portugal captain touch the ball less on average, though his figure of penalty box touches ranks as the fourth-highest across his career.
Heads up
Looking back at images of Ronaldo s early days at United, it is hard to imagine how that rapid, tricky winger developed into one of the most feared headers of the ball in world football.
Ronaldo s leap – his ability to almost hang in the air at great height, while generating unbelievable power – is something few players have come close to emulating. It might as well be trademarked, at this stage.
If his all-round array of talents were not already enough, Ronaldo also gives Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s team an aerial threat that only Edinson Cavani brings. Cavani, another veteran at 34, can no longer play every game.
Ronaldo scored seven headed goals across all competitions in 2020-21, as many as Cavani and Everton s Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who were the leading players from Premier League clubs in that regard.
Since he left United, 70 of Ronaldo s 450 club goals have come with his head – no player across Europe s top five leagues has scored more, with Bayern Munich talisman Robert Lewandowski ranking second with 57.
With Luke Shaw rejuvenated as an attacking force and Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba all capable of brilliant deliveries, Premier League centre-backs should fear Ronaldo s leap in 2021-22.
