Ten Hag 'doesn't know' how to make Cristiano Ronaldo happy
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 11 Jul 2022 11:28 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag admits that he “doesn’t know” how to make Cristiano Ronaldo happy – but insists that the wantaway attacker is not for sale.
Ronaldo is not on Man Utd’s pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia and has yet to participate in pre-season with the Old Trafford side, despite being due back with the squad on 4 July.
Ten Hag insists this is because of a personal matter, which has been the party line for over a week now.
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“Cristiano Ronaldo is not for sale, he is in our plans - he's not with us due to personal issues. We are planning with Cristiano Ronaldo for this season, that's it,” Ten Hag said when questioned by the press ahead of Tuesday’s pre-season fixture against Liverpool.
The manager added that he has held talks with Ronaldo and that as far as he's aware, the player wants to stay.
"He hasn't told me he wants to leave," Ten Hag said. "I have read he wants to leave, but as I say, Cristiano is not for sale, he's in our plans and we want to get success together."
Nevertheless, he admits that he is unsure what might help solve the present issues that the Portuguese attacker seems to have.
“How to make Cristiano happy? I don't know - I'm looking forward to working with him,” Ten Hag said.
Ten Hag gives transfer update
Meanwhile, the former Ajax boss said that Man Utd are still pursuing transfers, going as far to hint that deals for Antony, who he coached in Amsterdam last season, and Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona are among his absolute priorities.
"Definitely we are searching for players in the midfield. We are still looking for players in offence,” he said. “I never talk about players who are not under contract at Man United, players at different clubs. I cannot tell you anything about this issue.
"We want to have the right players. We have a really good squad, we're working on developing our way of play and if the opportunity is there, we will strike."
Man Utd have had a frustrating start to the transfer window, having only completed a deal for Feyenoord left-back Tyrell Malacia, despite countless links to star names.
