Boxing legend Tyson Fury has delivered his opinion on Manchester United’s disastrous 2021/22 season.

Speaking to The Mirror, the retired heavyweight champion claimed Cristiano Ronaldo’s empathic return to Old Trafford may have played a role in the club’s decline on the previous season, despite the Portuguese scoring 18 Premier League goals.

Manchester United finished second in the league in the 2020/21 season and were expected to mount another title challenge with the signing of Ronaldo.

However, United scraped a mediocre sixth-placed finish, consequently finishing a staggering 35 points behind City rivals, and eventual champions, Manchester City.

The season saw the club appoint three managers with Ralf Rangnick replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as interim boss before announcing Erik ten Hag as the man to take the club forward.

Ronaldo's Old Trafford Return & Fury's Opinion

Ronaldo is considered one of the GOATs of the sport and was considered to be the match-winner that United required to win back the Premier League title.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 03: Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United reacts wearing the captains armband during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford on January 03, 2022 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

The Portuguese star scored 24 goals for United last season, finishing top scorer for the club, and was controversially named in the Premier League Team of the Season.

The superstar is reported to be happy at Old Trafford and is looking to go again next season under his new boss.

However, Fury has a theory that the return of Ronaldo played a role in Manchester United dropping from a second-place finish to a sixth-placed finish the following season.

The Gypsy King claimed: “It’s good news Ronaldo is staying on, but here’s a theory; when they didn’t have him the season before last, they finished second in the Premier League, then we had Ronaldo and we finished sixth.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 27: Boxer Tyson Fury looks on during the NFL game between Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams at Wembley Stadium on October 27, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

“People will say, ‘Well, if we hadn’t had him scoring 20 goals we’d have finished a lot lower last season’, but we didn’t the season before and we finished a lot higher.

“When you have a superstar like Ronaldo, everybody relies on him to score goals and if he wasn’t there they’d be scoring the goals themselves like they did the season before last.

"I’m not saying he’s a bad asset, he’s a great asset, but sometimes with a star player, he carries the team and the young people are overshadowed by it all, they don’t get their chance to shine because ‘the great Ronaldo’ is on the pitch.”

Fury will be hoping his own theory is rubbished and Manchester United can return to the glory days under Erik ten Hag.

Tyson Fury makes Cristiano Ronaldo problem claim at Manchester United

The People's Champion has stated he will be taking in more United games now that he has retired from boxing.

Fury said: “I’ll be getting to Old Trafford a little bit more now I’m retired although, to be honest, every time I go there to watch them, they lose. And I don’t do second place, I don’t do losing, I don’t do all that s****. It’s win or nothing, so watching United at the moment, it’s crazy because I don’t get why these people aren’t running after that ball for 90 minutes.”