The idea of Wout Weghorst, a 6ft 6in journeyman striker, replacing Cristiano Ronaldo in Manchester United’s squad was always going to raise a few eyebrows.
After all, this was a 30-year-old centre forward who managed only two Premier League goals during his time at Burnley, arriving to fill the gap left by a five-time Ballon d’Or winner. But there is, unsurprisingly, a very clear method to Erik ten Hag’s plan.
Ronaldo did not feature that heavily under Ten Hag because he did not have the attributes the new United manager was after as he looked for his team to press from the front. In Weghorst he has a player more befitting to the system he has spent the past nine months instilling in his squad.
