Ten years ago today, Real Madrid shook the world by signing Cristiano Ronaldo for an at-the-time astronomical €94 million ($132 million). While it was a hefty investment, Ronaldo has proven to be a bargain, leading Los Blancos to 15 pieces of silverware over his nine years at the club.
It was always going to be difficult for Manchester United to replace CR7, but this statistic, which was tweeted by ESPN UK, shows just how poorly United has done filling in CR7's boots.
Since Cristiano Ronaldo's departure 10 years ago, Man United's No. 7s have scored just 15 Premier League goals pic.twitter.com/uAxyiNKLL7
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) June 11, 2019
Yes, you read that correctly: Since Cristiano Ronaldo left United, the players who have worn his number have scored 15 goals TOTAL. To put this into perspective, since leaving Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 332 league goals, with 311 coming at Real Madrid.
Here are the stats for the players who have worn No. 7 since Ronaldo has left:
Unlucky Manchester United Sevens
- Michael Owen: 31 matches, 5 league goals
- Antonio Valencia: 30 matches, 1 league goal (stats only from when he was wearing No. 7)
- Angel di Maria: 27 matches, 2 league goals
- Memphis Depay: 33 matches, 4 league goals
- Alexis Sanchez: 32 matches, 3 league goals
Yikes. While Ronaldo has scored around a goal a game since leaving United, his replacements averaged a goal every 10 games while wearing his number at Manchester United.
The current No. 7, Alexis Sanchez, has been woeful for Manchester United since leaving Arsenal last year, and it looks like he wont be adding many goals to the tally anytime soon given his current form.
The real question is, now that Ronaldo has left Madrid for Juventus, is Madrid's No. 7 cursed as well? Real Madrid better pray that isn't the case, as their next No. 7 is Belgian superstar and Ronaldo replacement Eden Hazard, who is set to be announced officially by the club Thursday.
