Ronaldo has a point about Manchester United's lost identity.

When Michael Carrick was an apprentice at West Ham United in the late 90s, he would occasionally be placed on away dressing room duty on match-day, making sure things were neat and tidy. He’d stand, almost to attention, broom in hand, in the corridor and watch closely when Manchester United in particular arrived at Upton Park. Carrick was fascinated with their smartness, their determination, their aura, especially the likes of Roy Keane. Carrick kept staring at the blazer with the famous crest.

Cristiano Ronaldo. Photo: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images

That memory of a club and a team with such powerful identity was one reason why Carrick was so keen to join United in 2006 after making his name at West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur. The characteristics Carrick first admired in the well-swept corridors of Upton Park still imbued United, whose serial accumulation of titles continued until Sir Alex Ferguson stood down in 2013. The past decade has seen United struggling to refind their identity. Eight managers, including interims and caretakers (including Carrick himself with two wins and a draw), have tried to restore past glories but United’s old identity, the traits Carrick once saw and represented,  has largely been lost.

It is difficult to see exactly what is United’s identity at the moment, as a team or club. At times, it seems that Erik ten Hag is trying to turn the team into the New Ajax. Some of the old tenets are there, pace out wide, and occasional promotion of youth, both elements embodied by Alejandro Garnacho. But United have lost their way and their old identity.

Clubs should not be tethered to the past but there was much to agree with in the comments of Carrick’s old team-mate, Cristiano Ronaldo. Headlines focus on what Ronaldo perceived as the lack of ambition of Erik ten Hag, the man who happily eased him out of the creaking Old Trafford door in 2022. But it can’t be simply about Ten Hag if Ronaldo is also questioning the whole structure of the club. It’s a problem of culture.