Who will be United's penalty taker this season? The record for Ronaldo Vs. Fernandes

Cristiano Ronaldo is the newest player to be added to the ranks of Manchester United this season. The former Juventus forward becomes the third major signing of the summer for the Red Devils. Ronaldo joins on a 2-year deal an initial fee of €13m with add-ons up to €8m. 

Ronaldo joins an already stocked attacking unit at Manchester United that boasts of forwards like Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Edison Cavani, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood and midfield attacking wealth in Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba. Of the players on the roster Bruno Fernandes has been the designated penalty-taker for United since he joined the club in January 2020.

Following on from his success from the spot at Sporting Lisbon, Fernandes was assigned the role of the penalty-taker and he has been successful at it. The younger Portugal international has an outstanding success rate of 93% from the spot, having missed just 3 out of the 44 penalties he has taken for clubs and country. He is undoubtedly one of the players with the highest conversion rate in football.

On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo is also an accomplished spot kick taker. He has shone in this role having been the designated penalty-taker for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and the Portugal national team where he is teammates with Bruno Fernandes. Ronaldo has a success rate of 83%, having scored 139 of the 166 penalties he has taken in his career. 

It is a favourable situation for Manchester United to have two excellent penalty-takers in their squad and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be happy to choose anyone. However, since Ronaldo outrank Fernandes in terms of experience and star power, we might see the penalty role given to Ronaldo. Or the coach could choose to go with both of them and leave them to decide on the pitch. Whoever takes the penalty for United this season, opposing goalkeepers can fully expect to be up against an excellent kicker