Ole Gunnar Solskjaer dropped his biggest hint yet that he sees Cristiano Ronaldo as a central striker in his new-look Manchester United attack.
The 36-year-old is set to make an emotional return to Old Trafford next week after United struck a deal with Juventus on Friday and could make his debut against Newcastle after the international break.
In his absence, United moved up to third in the fledgling Premier League table with a narrow and slightly fortuitous 1-0 win at Wolves.
The hosts missed a string of chances and forced David de Gea into a memorable double save from Roman Sais, 10 minutes before Mason Greenwood won the game with his third goal in as many games.
Greenwood has led the line so far this season with distinction in the absence of Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani, who belatedly made his first appearance of the campaign as a second-half substitute at Wolves.
Solskjaer again hailed the prodigious teenager after the match but suggested his role is set to change ahead of Ronaldo’s imminent arrival.
‘It’s special,’ said Solskjaer when asked for his reaction to Greenwood’s 20th Premier League goal.
‘To get the shot on target from that angle is good, of course the keeper maybe could have saved it but he hit it so quickly.
‘The beauty of him is that he can go outside right foot and inside left foot, so it’s hard for a defender.’
Asked by Sky Sports as to where he sees Ronaldo playing in his new-look attack, meanwhile, he added: #Cristiano has evolved as a player. He used to play wide right, wide left, up front. He’s more of a centre forward for me at the moment, definitely.
‘But there will be games where we play with two up front, three up front. I want him in the box, I want him scoring goals.
‘That’s football for you, sometimes it happens. We’ve always been watching Cristiano thinking one day he’s going to move and we’d be interested. We never thought he was going to leave Juventus this season. When he did we had to speak to him of course.
‘Everyone that cares for Man Utd wanted this to happen and everyone played a part but the biggest thing was that Cristiano wanted to come here.’
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