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Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't nominated for the 'Premier League Player of the Season' award. Considering the same, his former teammate Rio Ferdinand believes the player could take it personally.
The 37-year-old has amassed 18 league goals since rejoining the Red Devils last summer, the most behind only Mohamed Salah (22) and Heung-min Son (21). However, that wasn't enough for him to earn a nomination for the season's best player award, as the Portuguese was snubbed.
Ferdinand, who played alongside the United attacker for six years under Sir Alex Ferguson, said the latter didn't deserve to be overlooked, at least not in favour of Arsenal's Bukayo Saka, who made the cut into the top eight nominations.
Speaking on his YouTube show VIBE, the 43-year-old said (via News18):
“Saka’s in the Player of the Year nominees? I wouldn’t have had Saka in there yet, as well as he has done. I wouldn’t have had him in there ahead of Ronaldo, not this season. Who’s voted that? Ronaldo should be in ahead of three of four of those guys. He probably doesn’t win i,t but in terms of nominees, it’s just laughable."
Both Salah and Son are also in contention alongside Kevin De Bruyne, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joao Cancelo, West Ham United's breakout star Jarrod Bowen and Southampton's James Ward-Prowse.
Besides Liverpool and Manchester City players, the Manchester United No.7 certainly had a strong case against the rest, even if his chances of winning it outright were minimal.
The Portuguese could consider the snub as a sign of 'disrespect', said Ferdinand, who added:
“He (Ronaldo) will take it as a disrespect, but these are the things that fuel him; he will be thinking, ‘How dare you?’ And it’s based on stats, he’s like, ‘I have banged in more goals than most of them on that list other than (Mohamed) Salah, so what are you talking about?’”
The date for the winner's announcement hasn't been released yet, but the awards are usually handed out in late May or early June. Manchester City defender Ruben Dias was last year's winner.
Cristiano Ronaldo didn't have a great season despite prolific record
Scoring 18 goals with a deplorable Manchester United side is no mean feat, but the Portuguese wasn't consistent all season.
He struck a few in the first half of their campaign but endured a dry spell after the turn of the year till March. Exactly half of his tally has come in the last two months alone. Six of those nine goals came as part of hat-tricks against Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City.
