Manchester United’s 2021/22 season was a wild experience, and a lot has changed since the Cristiano Ronaldo-dominated campaign.
There was great reason in 2021/22 to believe that adding Cristiano Ronaldo to the squad could super-charge the team to the next level.
Coming off a 36-goal season at Juventus Ronaldo joined a star-studded squad featuring the likes of Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Bruno Fernandes, Raphael Varane, David de Gea and Marcus Rashford.
Add in rising but troubled stars Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood, and expectations were off the charts.
David de Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo walk off the pitch
Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images
By December 2024, Man Utd had unravelled
Four years ago this month, December 2021, everything that Manchester United hoped, turned out to be untrue.
The Ronaldo-led project had already run into trouble and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was fired as manager. He was replaced by an interim coach, Ralf Rangnick.
Manchester United’s results in December 2021 included wins over Crystal Palace, Norwich, and Arsenal, with Ronaldo scoring in all of them.
Despite this, Ronaldo failed to win Manchester United’s Player of the Month Award for December 2021, with David de Gea triumphant instead.
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David de Gea returned to form
De Gea won back-to-back Player of the Month Awards voted for by United fans in November and December, ending a rare drought.
These late 2021 wins were actually De Gea’s first Player of the Month Award wins since 2018.
Even though Ronaldo scored four goals in five games in December 2021, he only landed 22 per cent of the vote, with De Gea dominating with 73 per cent. Fred had 5 per cent.
Ronaldo had won the awards in September and October.
Speaking at the time, interim boss Ralf Rangnick hailed De Gea, who kept clean sheets in his first two matches in charge.
Rangnick said: “For sure, David is one of the best goalkeepers in the world.”
De Gea and Ronaldo split the awards at the end of the season. Ronaldo won the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year Award, voted for by the fans.
However, De Gea won the Players’ Player of the Year Award, testament to United’s struggles during the campaign and his determination to ensure the club’s fall-off did not get worse.
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David de Gea in difficult spell four years on
David de Gea outlasted Cristiano Ronaldo, who agreed a contract termination three months into the 2022/23 season
De Gea’s contract expired at the end of 2023 and Erik ten Hag decided not to renew it, with a mistake in the FA Cup Final the final straw.
After taking a year out of football to deal with the shock of his Manchester United release, De Gea signed with Fiorentina in 2024.
Initially, De Gea’s return was a success, but the 2025/26 season has not gone to plan. Fiorentina are bottom of Serie A in 20th place, and the goalkeeper is one of the problems.
After being slated for his error-strewn performance against Sassuolo, the Italian media are wondering what’s wrong with De Gea.
Quotidiano Sportivo write: “The most worrying situation is undoubtedly that of De Gea: his glaring blunders against Sassuolo, on goals from Volpato and Muharemovic, are just the latest chapter in a difficult-to-explain regression.”
As one of the highest-paid players in the Fiorentina squad, behind only under-performing striker Moise Kean, there are major questions for De Gea to solve right now.
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Cristiano Ronaldo meanwhile is on his own personal mission, trying to win his first Saudi Pro League title with Al-Nassr.
He is still scoring spectacular goals, with De Gea showing his adulation, while his team are first in the table with nine wins from nine games.
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