TEN HAG: RONALDO DID NOT WANT TO BE PART OF MANCHESTER UNITED’S FUTURE
After three weeks of silence, Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has finally weighed in on Cristiano Ronaldo’s interview with Piers Morgan last month.
The Dutchman has said Ronaldo’s comments about him and the club took him by surprise and admitted the five-time Ballon D’or winner “had to leave” after the interview aired. “It was quite clear after the interview that Cristiano Ronaldo had to leave,” Ten Hag said. “We didn’t have to discuss it. It was quite clear. Richard [Arnold], John [Murtough], me. You can’t accept it… Yes [I watched the interview]. Not all of it. I have seen most of it. I have to do it. It is part of my job to do it. I went to UEFA [for the coaches’ convention] when it came out.”
Former Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo made an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored last month and criticized the Manchester United hierarchy including the owners and the club’s head coach, Erik Ten Hag, in an interview in which he said he “had no respect” for the United manager. Ten Hag spoke to the media last week ahead of the team’s friendly match against Real Betis and revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo did not speak to him before the interview and that neither of the two parties have spoken since the interview aired.
Asked whether he thought Cristiano Ronaldo’s words were disrespectful, Ten Hag said: “It is up to you. Like I say, for me, it is the past. I want to go to the future. We want a new future for Manchester United and he didn’t want to be part of it. We move on.”
Soon after the interview, Manchester United announced that Cristiano Ronaldo was leaving the club by mutual agreement. The 37-year-old star forward is now a free agent and will announce his future after the World Cup.
Ten Hag also revealed that he spoke to Ronaldo once in the summer about his desire to stay at Manchester United. The Dutch manager said Cristiano Ronaldo came to him and told him that he would inform him in seven days if he wanted to stay. Ronaldo then returned and said he wanted to stay, ending any talks of a possible departure.
The 52-year-old manager insisted that he wanted to work with Cristiano Ronaldo but he “chose [to do the interview].” Ten Hag said he would have preferred the matter to be solved in a different way rather than how it unfolded. “I wanted him [Cristiano Ronaldo] to stay from the first moment until now,” Ten Hag said. “He wanted to leave. It was quite clear. And when a player definitely doesn’t want to be in this club then he has to go. Clear. The interview, I think, as a club, you can’t accept. There will be consequences. To make that step he knew the consequences.”
Asked if it’s easier to work without the ‘Ronaldo circus’ Ten Hag said: “No. I like to work with world-class players. I know they can make a difference and help you to achieve your objectives. That is why you want to have such players in your dressing room.”
The former Ajax boss said he was “definitely not” against the idea of keeping Cristiano Ronaldo if he was in better form. “Last year he score 24 goals, yes?” he said. “So what does this team need? We need goals. My accountability is in favor of the club and the team. They are the decisions I have to make. It doesn’t matter who is the person. It is about how we perform now.”
“I don’t actually know [if the situation has made me a better manager]. It was not my objective. We wanted him to be a part of our project, to contribute to Manchester United because he is a great player.”
From early on in the season, it was quite clear that Ronaldo was not an integral part of Ten Hag’s plans. The Champions League’s all-time top goal scorer only played 10 Premier League games under Erik Ten Hag, starting only four and scoring once. The September Premier League manager of the month also criticized Ronaldo’s lack of fitness saying: “When he is in good shape, he is a good player and he could help us to get back and achieve the objectives we have. That is quite clear. But he wasn’t.”
Ronaldo is now away at the World Cup in Qatar with Portugal and was left out of the team’s starting lineups against both Switzerland and Morocco. He has since been linked with a move to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr for a world record €200 million per year salary.
Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag said he is now focused on the Premier League season that resumes after the World Cup. United are now training at a camp in Spain before they return to action in the EFL Cup against Burnley, just three days after the World Cup final. “We still have games to play in the first half of the season,” Ten Hag said. “We want to make a success of this season, so we focus on that.”
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Austin Osuide. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.