Roy Keane has harshly criticized Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag for his treatment of Cristiano Ronaldo.
The United legend responded to Ten Hag’s justification for not playing against Ronaldo, even as a substitute when his team trailed by four goals.
After the 6-3 loss to Manchester City, the Dutchman told Sky Sports “I didn’t bring him out of respect for his great career.”
“And the other thing, then there was the advantage that he could bring in Antony Martial. He needs the minutes, but I don’t want to point it out like that.”
That didn’t sit well with Keane, who insisted that Ten Hag had already made up his mind about the Portugal star and disrespected him by doing so:
“The general picture is that he is not going to play with Ronaldo. He’s only going to get uglier as the season goes on. “United have shown nothing but disrespect to Ronaldo.”
For Keane, last season’s top scorer should have been allowed to leave the club over the summer.” Ok, he said he wanted options. But you don’t cling to Ronaldo so that he sits on the bench. He is one of the best players of all time.”
Seen from the outside, the fact that no major European club have made a serious offer for Ronaldo somewhat undermines Keane’s point of view, however, according to the Sky Sports pundit, that point of view makes no sense.
“I had options. This idea that he had no options is rubbish. I had four or five good options.”
It is unknown whether or not any of those options were willing to pay Ronaldo’s gargantuan salary, or insisted that United pay his salary for the privilege of letting him play for someone else.
It is notable that several major European clubs distanced themselves from making a move for Ronaldo over the summer, from Bayern Munich executives to Atletico Madrid fans and even the Sporting Lisbon manager.
