Cristiano Ronaldo's teammate highlights Man Utd's glaring transfer mistake

A Portuguese international swaggering around the Old Trafford turf, comfortably the best player on the pitch helping their team to another well deserved three points.

It was exactly what Manchester United envisioned when they made the audacious decision to bring Cristiano Ronaldo back to The Theatre of Dreams.

Unfortunately, it was Ruben Neves celebrating a Wolverhampton Wanderers victory, with his veteran international team-mate throwing his hands up in disgust 60 yards away.

This was an encounter which always promised to have more than a little dose of Iberian influence, after all, nine of the 28 players on show for both sides came from Portugal.

But the fact an argument could be made that he was the worst of his countrymen is a damning one to say the least.

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Joao Moutinho may have been the player to strike the decisive blow - his strike ending Wolves ' 42-year wait for a victory at Old Trafford - but it was his younger midfield compatriot who really stole the show.

And United fans could be excused if, for even just a minute, they wondered whether they had signed the wrong member of Fernando Santos's Euro 2020 squad.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knew his side needed fresh midfield impetus during the summer, the failure to do so left him privately frustrated and ultimately proved a major contributor in his overall demise.

Signing a central defender was always on the cards, Raphael Varane provided a much-needed boost in defensive quality, while for all of his early struggles, Jadon Sancho felt like a signing they needed.

The signing of Ronaldo was different however. Few, if any, United bosses expected to see the 36-year-old goalscoring supremo back at the club.

Solskjaer seemed to have found a successful formula with the forwards already at his disposal, but when it looked as if he could join their cross-city rivals, they pounced. But whether he was truly needed remains in question.

"Is this about being successful or is it about making money off Ronaldo's name?" Paul Merson wrote in his Daily Star column at the time.

" Juventus bought Ronaldo to win them the Champions League. They never looked like winning it - and didn't even win Serie A last season. People say 'oh, he scored more goals than Romelu Lukaku'. Yeah but who won the league?

"Call me a pessimist but I don't think United would even have tried to sign Ronaldo if Manchester City hadn't come in for him first. They just didn't want him going to City."

For all of Ronaldo's successes, and 14 goals by January 4 marks an impressive return, there can be no argument that United are further away from their title 'rivals' than they were before his signing.

That midfield presence, or more pertinently, the lack of it, has never been more evident than against a side whose entire identity is built around it.

Little did they know in the height of the summer, but Ralf Rangnick's preference for two 'midfield sixes' arguably makes not signing Neves an even greater travesty.

As the Red Devils continue to meander through a season, partly down to midfield mediocrity, there must have been more than a few envious glances to a player - who for now at least - remains one that got away.