Cristiano Ronaldo “didn’t prepare himself” properly during his second stint at Man Utd and the club was “not the highest priority” for him, according to Erik ten Hag.
The former Red Devils boss has opened up on his relationship with the Portugal international from when the two men were at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo returned to Man United in 2021 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who left the club that November after a run of poor results in the Premier League.
Man Utd went on to finish sixth in the table after Ten Hag took over, with Ronaldo scoring 24 goals in all competitions. But the former Real Madrid and Juventus wanted out in the summer of 2022 after growing dissatisfied with the direction of the club.
When a transfer failed to materialise, Ronaldo fell out with Ten Hag after being used as a substitute. In an explosive interview with Piers Morgan, he said he felt “betrayed” and has “no respect” for the manager, which swiftly led to his exit that November.
Cristiano Ronaldo ‘let Man Utd down’ with lack of effort
For the first time since leaving United in 2024, Ten Hag has spoken about the dynamic between him and Ronaldo, and why the superstar had to leave the club.
“He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him,” Ten Hag told The Athletic. “I flew out to Portugal to speak with him about what I was aiming for before I came to United. 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.”
Ten Hag claims that Ronaldo pulled out of training sessions and didn’t pull his weight when it came to preparation. The winger only completed two of the three scheduled laps of the infamous run the Dutch coach made his players do after they lost 4-0 at Brentford in August 2022.
“I confronted him with this,” said Ten Hag. “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. 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.
“Every top team has to embrace the top player, but the top player has to work for the team.
“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.”
Ten Hag believes that Ronaldo’s attitude rubbed off on some of his teammates. “Players have to act, they have a big responsibility. Football is, for some, not the highest priority. And United for some wasn’t the highest priority.”
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