Former Manchester United player Paul Ince has criticized Cristiano Ronaldo by stating that he is not the same player when he joined 19 years ago and asserted that he is setting a bad example for the rest of the players. Ronaldo joined United for his second spell at the club in the summer.

Cristiano Ronaldo joined Manchester United from Juventus in the summer for an initial 15 million euros reported fee as he looked to embark on his second spell at the English club after leaving the club for Real Madrid in 2009.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has made a significant impact at United in the first half of the season as he scored 14 goals and registered three assists in 27 appearances across all competitions. The mercurial Portuguese has been unable to arrest the English club’s slump this campaign as they continue to navigate their way through a tumultuous season.

The 37-year-old is enduring a poor spell in front of goal and has now suffered his longest barren run for over a decade. A failure to find the net against Southampton during the weekend took him to six games without a goal.

Since his last goal in their win over Burnley in December, Ronaldo has played 537 minutes in all competitions without scoring and attempting 37 shots on goal but only hitting the target with seven of them. Ince has stressed that Ronaldo’s actions are setting a bad example for the rest of the United players.

“This is not the Ronaldo of 19 years ago when he was first at Old Trafford – this is a 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo. When people say he’ll be great for the club and the youngsters, you’d have thought that would be the case. But he’s walking off down the tunnel and throwing his toys out the pram. For me that’s a bad example. This is someone at the end of his career and if he can’t start against Burnley who are bottom of the table there’s something seriously wrong. It should be about the team, but it’s now become all about Ronaldo,” Ince told Genting Casino.