Former Premier League star Dean Windass insists that Cristiano Ronaldo will play as a number nine at Manchester United.

The Portugal international has returned to the club from Juventus in one of the most sensational transfers of the summer window.

He has yet to make his debut, of course, because of his international commitments with Portugal, and he could make his second debut against Newcastle United.

Ronaldo has a formidable scoring record, of course, after his spells at United, Real Madrid, and Juventus.

During his first spell in Manchester, the attacker scored 118 goals in 292 games, before netting an astonishing 450 goals in 438 games at Real. At Juve, Ronaldo scored 101 times in 134 games, while he has also netted 111 times in 180 caps for Portugal.

And Windass believes he will be instructed to get into the penalty area as often as possible under United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Windass said: “He’ll be a number nine. He can get himself in the box, you don’t have to do the tracking back as much, because the Premier League is different to foreign football, where you have to track back in a 4-3-3, then it becomes a 4-5-1.

“I’d play him down the middle, get goals in the box, he can come short, he can go long, save your energy going the other way instead of tracking back in the wide areas.

“If he has to play in the wide areas he’ll do that but I’m 100% certain that he will play down the middle.”