Erik ten Hag said Cristiano Ronaldo “let the team down, and he let me down” during Ronaldo’s second stint at Manchester United in comments published from an interview with Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic. The remarks also covered training issues, missed signings and the sale of Scott McTominay.
Ten Hag's comments on Ronaldo
Ten Hag said: “He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him.”
Ten Hag said: “I flew out to Portugal to speak with him about what I was aiming for before I came to United.” He also said: “Obviously, he’s one of the best in football history. I respected him a lot. But at that time, as a manager, I had to make a rational decision and keep the players I admire in.”
Training claims
Ten Hag claimed that Ronaldo pulled out of training sessions, did not get his heart rate raised to the required level when he did train and did not complete the full run that ten Hag tasked the team with after they were embarrassed 4-0 at Brentford.
Ten Hag said: “I confronted him with this, many times I say, ‘Ronnie, everyone wants to work for you to bring you in the right position, but if you can’t bring yourself in the box, you can’t score’. He was not capable to do this.”
He added: “It’s the wrong idea to put this to me that I expected him to do the pressing, that he’s exhausted. But he couldn’t. He ran neither in possession nor out of possession. The reason was because he didn’t prepare himself.”
Ten Hag also said: “Every top team has to embrace the top player, but the top player has to work for the team.” He added: “He was telling the players, ‘Save your legs at the training’. I understand it when you are top fit; you have sessions, you can save the legs. But first you have to train yourself to get into the right fitness levels.”
Contract termination in 2022
Ronaldo had his contract with Manchester United terminated in November 2022 after saying he felt “betrayed” by his manager in an interview with Piers Morgan.
McTominay and missed signings
Ten Hag said he felt “very embarrassed and disappointed” after the sale of Scott McTominay. He said he had agreed with the board that McTominay would stay at Old Trafford after netting double digits in the 2023/24 season.
Ten Hag rued missed signings, which included Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Brian Brobbey and Danny Welbeck. On Kane, he said: “I fought for it.”
He also said: “I heard that he was very positive, but I never spoke with him about the issue. I don’t know how the decision process went with John, Richard, the Glazers.”