No one can hide it any longer - Cristiano Ronaldo is on the decline.

It was inevitable, especially considering the superstar's age of 31, but no one imagined that said decline would be as precipitous and frustrating for the player and his club.

Put simply, Ronaldo is no longer the player that he was a year ago. And in turn, he is not the dominant figure that could will his club to victory on his own.

Ronaldo used to be that player, possibly as late as last season when he was possibly the only player to show up in the Champions League knockout rounds and help will Madrid past Schalke 04 and then give the club a shot at getting past Juventus.

But in 2015-16, Ronaldo's contributions are little more than a few goals in inconsequential moments. In 29 games this season, Ronaldo has 30 goals, but has only scored an opening goal on five occasions; his teammate Karim Benzema has actually been more effective in this respect. For all his goals, Ronaldo's game-winning total comes to seven winners in 20 victories. Certainly not a bad number, but Ronaldo was usually carrying greater than 50 percent of game winners on his shoulders in past years. So his goals have not been worthless, but certainly not as useful as in years past.

Ronaldo is currently on pace for 31 goals in La Liga; a solid number but not one that will win him this year's Pichichi if Luis Suarez continues his current level of player. It would be the same number that netted him the trophy in 2014-15, but Ronaldo was scoring more consistently back then. This year he has scored in just 10 of 23 La Liga matches; in 2013-14 he had scored in 13 of the first 23 games and had a total of 22 goals by that

point and had even missed time during that stretch due to injury. In fact Ronaldo was injured for much of that season and still managed superlative scoring numbers. He does not have that excuse at this point in time.

But the biggest problem is that Ronaldo goes missing in big moments far too often. Just look at Madrid's recent away games against lowly sides like Granada and Real Betis. Last season Ronaldo feasted on Granada, scoring five goals in one game; this year he had none from two matches. In the most recent game, he was a shadow missing shots on goal, connecting on fewer than 75 percent of his passes and really doing little to help out his club in a meaningful way.

The underlying numbers are arguably more damning for the Portuguese star. His passing success rate is down from the last two season, now below 80 percent. His shots on goal per game (6.2) have actually decreased significantly and are far below his career average; he averaged 6.4 last season, 7.2 the year prior and 6.9 in 2012-13. His shooting percentage is at a dismal 13 percent, below his career average of 15 percent. Ronaldo could still regress back to the mean, but his shots on goal have decreased significantly from season to season, emphasizing his increasing inability to find the goal.

Other offensive stats point to the same issues. His key passes per game are the lowest they have been ever in La Liga at 1.5 per game, showing that Ronaldo is not creating chances for teammates in the offensive zone either. He is eighth on the team in key passes per game this season; last season he was fifth in the entire Spanish League in this category.

His dribbles per game are also rather low at just 1.1 per game; he averaged 1.5 in La Liga last year, 2.2 per game the year before, 1.6 the year before that and over three in his first season with Madrid back in 2009-10. One can see this from how Ronaldo usually passes off to other players and walks about waiting for a chance to attack inside the box. He lacks the speed and strength to take on defenders from the wing, but insists on playing that position for whatever reason.

Ronaldo's involvement is also emphasized by the small amount of passes per game, lower than at any point in his La Liga career (an average of 30.2 passes). Ronaldo is currently 13th on the team in passes per game.

So what can Real Madrid do with a player that is clearly no longer in peak form and has regressed in every imaginable offensive category?

Ronaldo should be playing as a striker for starters, where his chances at goal will be optimal and his poor defense and ineffectiveness on the left wing can be overlooked. The problem is that Karim Benzema has been just as effective this year, if not more so, and is a few years younger than Ronaldo.

It might just be time to cash in on his perceived value and move on. Ronaldo is no longer a top player in the world, maybe not even in the top 10 in terms of effectiveness. He is certainly no longer the best player on his own team at this point and might actually be more of a distraction than a help.

All stats from Whoscored.com.

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