Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag finally broke his silence on Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from the club a few weeks ago.
Ronaldo gave a poisonous and highly publicized interview to British journalist Piers Morgan, in which he criticized the club for its lack of ambition and for trying to force him out. He also said that due to Ten Hag’s lack of respect, he does not hold the Dutch boss in high regard.
In an interview with The Manchester Evening News, Ten Hag responded to Ronaldo’s damning accusations and expressed his opinion on the United striker’s acrimonious divorce.
Ten Hag said that the way Ronaldo decided to leave the club was sad, unfortunate and unnecessary. He confirmed that he wanted to work with Ronaldo, but as the Portuguese international was not in good shape, he couldn’t get a tune out of him.
The United manager was asked if he knew the 37-year-old wanted to leave. He replied, “I wanted him to stay from the first moment until now. He wanted to leave, it was pretty clear. And when a player definitely doesn’t want to be at this club, then he has to leave, of course”.
“I think that, as a club, the interview cannot be accepted. There will be consequences. To take that step he knew the consequences. He never told me before. During the season there was no window but until then he never told me: I want to go ”.
Ten Hag added after being asked if Ronaldo didn’t have the decency to tell him he wanted a way out: “Yes, that’s right. In the summer we had a talk. He came in and said: ‘I’ll tell you in seven days if I want to stay.’ Then he came back and said ‘I want to stay’. Until that moment (the interview) I never heard anything”.
Ten Hag refused to agree with the prevailing sentiment that he is a better coach after his handling of the Ronaldo fiasco.
The United manager confirmed that the decision to leave the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was made jointly between him, Richard Arnold and John Murtough. Ten Hag thanked the fans for their unconditional support and backing him throughout the saga.
Looking back, the Dutchman surprisingly commented that theoretically he would have given Ronaldo a new contract at United. He gave his reason for this argument: Ronaldo scored 24 goals last year and in the future he would have been a reliable source of goals for the club.
In true Ten Hag fashion, he insisted that everyone move on and put the Ronaldo thing behind them.
In fact, the United manager has come out of this stronger than ever. Undoubtedly, now everyone knows who is in charge.
