Erik ten Hag hevder at Cristiano Ronaldo «didn’t prepare himself» på riktig måte før kampene for Manchester United, og at klubben «wasn’t the highest priority» for den portugisiske landslagsstjernen.
Ten Hag ble sparket av United i oktober 2024 etter en rekke svake resultater som etterlot Red Devils på 14. plass i Premier League.
Ronaldo forlot Old Trafford ved utgangen av 2022 etter et opphetet oppgjør med Ten Hag. Kontrakten ble terminert i gjensidig enighet, etter at han brant broer på Premier League-giganten i et beryktet intervju med Piers Morgan.
41-åringen takket nei til interesse fra Europa og valgte i starten av 2023 å gå til Al Nassr i Saudi Pro League. Siden den gang har han scoret 134 mål på 157 kamper for klubben.
«Han sviktet laget, og han sviktet meg»
I et intervju med The Athletic snakket Ten Hag om Ronaldos andre periode i United. Han sa: «He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him. 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.»
De fleste ser på Ronaldo som en toppprofesjonell, men Ten Hag setter spørsmålstegn ved det ved å antyde at han ikke forberedte seg riktig. United-legenden skal angivelig også ha bedt andre spillere om å «save their legs» på trening.
Ten Hag la til: «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. 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.»
Mye av det Ten Hag sier stemmer med det man så under VM 2026, der Ronaldo hadde problemer med å komme seg inn i boksen og gjøre en forskjell for Portugal.
Ten Hag fortsatte: «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.»
Kritikk av Real Madrid-trioen
Om tilskuddene Ronaldo, Raphael Varane og Casemiro, som utgjorde en tidligere Real Madrid-trio, sa Ten Hag: «I can say I think that’s what the Madrid connection brought in, that players are powerful and they want to decide. In my opinion it didn’t suit the phase United was in. The leadership wanted attacking, dynamic football and these players wanted to play what fitted themselves.»
Hvorfor landet ikke United Rice eller Kane?
Det gikk rykter om at Ten Hag ønsket seg Arsenal-midtbanespilleren Declan Rice, som den gang spilte for West Ham. Nederlenderen mener at United «could have done more to test» Hammers.
Ten Hag forklarte: «The issue was that West Ham didn’t want to let him go. I think we could have done more to test. We were on one page, they tried, but I don’t know how the process went. The point is, at United you need outstanding players.»
Den tidligere United-sjefen hevder også at Harry Kane var «very positive» til å bli med i Red Devils, men at klubbledelsen igjen ikke ville strekke seg langt nok for den tidligere Tottenham-spissen.
Ten Hag avslørte: «I said to them, ‘I want only one player — and you know who’. I fought for it. 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.
They came to the conclusion. I don’t have the insights in the financials.»