Cristiano Ronaldo is irreplaceable according to most pundits if not all of them; and the signing of Antonio Valencia in the summer wasn’t to replace the talisman but was instead brought because of the quality in which he had.

Valencia only scored three goals for Wigan last year, and this time around with United, not even halfway through the season, he has scored that many. In the absence of Rooney in most of October, Valencia has been the inspirational player, not only scoring late crucial goals but creating openings and chances for the Red Devils.

You’d expect with the number of wingers at the club that Valencia would be part of a rotation system but instead the Ecuadorian midfielder has featured 15 times in the red shirt, meaning he has the joint number of appearances with Dimitar Berbatov.

If you think about it, Valencia was a simple choice for the player of the month. Berbatov would have probably been my runner up, while Michael Owen wouldn’t be that far behind the Bulgarian. United haven’t played the most inventive football in this month, and the defeat to Liverpool is something to forget.

The winger is also quite fast, on and off the ball, and has created good understanding with his team-mates. You cannot doubt his work rate either and though Sir Alex Ferguson had spent quite a lot on him, you feel that he was a good buy and without a doubt, has been better than Nani this season though the Portuguese winger, I believe, has a place in this team as he is young and he has many of the qualities that Ronaldo himself possesses. Anyway to wrap up, I won’t be surprised if Valencia makes player of the month again this season.