Former Manchester United supervisor Erik ten Hag mentioned Cristiano Ronaldo “let the crew and let me down” throughout the Dutchman’s spell at Previous Trafford.
Portugal ahead Ronaldo was in his second spell at United when Ten Hag took cost in the summertime of 2022 however left in controversial circumstances a couple of months later.
“He let the crew down, and he let me down, as a result of we deliberate with him,” Ten Hag informed The Athletic, exterior.
“I flew out to Portugal to talk with him about what I used to be aiming for earlier than I got here to United.
“Clearly, he is top-of-the-line in soccer historical past. I revered him lots. However at the moment, as a supervisor, I needed to make a rational determination and hold the gamers I like in.”
Ten Hag had dropped Ronaldo for a Premier League sport at Chelsea in October 2022 after he had refused to come back on in its place towards Tottenham three days earlier.
Ronaldo gave an interview within the November during which he mentioned he felt “betrayed” by United, didn’t respect Ten Hag and was being compelled out of the membership previous to his departure being “mutually agreed”.
Ronaldo was 36 when he returned to Manchester United from Juventus in 2021, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was supervisor.
Beneath Ten Hag, he scored simply three objectives in 16 outings earlier than his exit throughout the 2022-23 marketing campaign.
“It is the fallacious concept to place this to me that I anticipated him to do the urgent, that he is exhausted,” added Ten Hag. “However he could not. He ran neither in possession nor out of possession. The explanation was as a result of he did not put together himself.
“Each high crew has to embrace the highest participant, however the high participant has to work for the crew.
“He was telling the gamers, ‘save your legs on the coaching’. I perceive it if you end up high match – you’ve classes it can save you the legs. However first it’s a must to practice your self to get into the best health ranges.”
The publication of Ten Hag’s interview comes as Ronaldo has been given a 30-day suspension and fined 255 euros (£215) by the Portuguese Soccer Federation for leaving his nation’s worldwide camp final month.
Ten Hag was sacked by Manchester United in October 2024, having received the Carabao Cup in 2023 and FA Cup in 2024.
On his time at Previous Trafford, Ten Hag added he wished to signal Frenkie de Jong, Harry Kane and Declan Rice, and was towards the sale of Scott McTominay to Napoli in August 2024.
“I mentioned for the primary season, ‘centre-half, there’s an issue, centre-midfield, there’s a downside, and particularly I would like a strategist, then we’d like objectives’. And that was the largest problem in all my three years: objectives,” mentioned Ten Hag.