Erik ten Hag has accused Cristiano Ronaldo of ‘letting him and the team down’ during his acrimonious exit from Manchester United four years ago.
Ronaldo sealed an emotional return to Old Trafford in 2021 but the reunion ended in acrimony less than 18 months later.
United mutually terminated the legendary forward’s contract in 2022 just months into ten Hag’s first season as manager following a string of controversial incidents. Ronaldo refused to come on as a late substitute against Tottenham, dropped for the following game against Chelsea as a result. The row snowballed with Ronaldo telling Piers Morgan in a controversial interview that he had ‘no respect’ for the Dutchman.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic, ten Hag has now claimed Ronaldo also pulled out of training sessions, insisting the then-37-year-old did ‘not prepare himself’ for the demands he was placing on the team.
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‘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. 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.’
‘I confronted him with this,” ten Hag said recalling their issues on the training pitch. ‘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 also accused the club of breaking promises to him – specifically on the future of Scott McTominay. The Scot scored 10 goals in his last season under the former Ajax boss, including dramatic late winners and big goals against Chelsea and Liverpool.
In the summer of 2024, McTominay was sold to Napoli for £25m, scoring 13 goals in his first season in Italy as Antonio Conte’s side won Serie A.
Ten Hag described feeling ‘embarrassed and disappointed’ by the decision having made it clear his squad was short of goal scorers.
‘That’s why I got disappointed,’ ten Hag said. ‘In Ibiza, we agreed. I said, “No selling Scott McTominay”. We would go aligned in the transfer window. I make an argument, a reason: we don’t have scoring abilities. Scott brings scoring abilities and great mentality. He has United in all his veins. So when they bring up the subject, “No”. And in the end they sold him. I got, of course, very embarrassed and disappointed.’