Erik Ten Hag will be thanking God that Ronaldo wants to leave Man Utd
Paul Macdonald
- 3 Jul 2022 09:00 BST
- 4 min read
As much as Erik Ten Hag will not admit it publicly, Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Manchester United would be a huge burden removed for the coach.
As Thierry Henry eloquently put it last year, ‘when your poison is [also] your medicine, you will struggle’. He is an indispensable goalscorer in a team packed with underachievers, forced to pick up the slack of a failing organisation.
But his literal presence also prohibits them from taking the necessary steps towards rehabilitation. This is a team spending on the same level as Manchester City and Liverpool and yet are light years away in terms of quality, structure and tactical philosophy.
Ronaldo just… gets in the way of all of that. A goalscorer yes, and still at a reasonably high level. One who can still provide valuable contributions, but only in the context of the dysfunctional mess around him.
Erik Ten Hag is, allegedly, relying on Ronaldo for the new season as his No. 9 and that he is looking at building the team in other positions around his presence. And yet, ETH also knows that it’d be so much more convenient for all concerned if CR7 just left quietly without too much of a fuss. Thanks for your ‘second’ service, but the club needs to move on.
Which club should sign Cristiano Ronaldo this summer? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/XTWQL342hL
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) July 2, 2022
And in other respects, United very much are. A ‘project’ manager has been appointed in Ten Hag, one who has been encouraged to bring in the players he wants. John Murtough is the Director of Football tasked with sorting out this mess, with Andy O’Boyle, formerly Head of Elite Performance at the Premier League, arriving at his Deputy.
Ed Woodward is gone, a man beloved by pretty much no-one other than the Glazer ownership, and the structure is now more on footballing terms, from people who know what they are doing.
On the pitch, meanwhile, a full-blown clearout has commenced. Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Edinson Cavani, Nemanja Matic and Jesse Lingard are all gone. Dean Henderson, Eric Bailly and Phil Jones could follow. That’s almost a third of a Premier League squad turned over in just a single month. It was needed, however, and it’s happening.
It could be the piece of luck that Ten Hag needs to get his Manchester United squad into the correct mindset from the beginning.
- FootballTransfersBut Ronaldo is just a stumbling block in that process. A man way too big, certainly in his opinion of himself and the players around him, and not one likely to play the game at this late stage in his career. If things aren’t working for Ronaldo under Ten Hag early on, as there’s a good chance they won’t be, it’s unlikely that he will take it with poise and grace.
No, he would make a big deal out of it, and United at this moment need to re-find what makes them a huge club, something that has been unquestionably lost in recent years. From a personality perspective, it’s a problem they could do without.
Then there’s the technical aspect; while Ten Hag may not be as aggressive in pressing as some of his peers in the Premier League, Ronaldo doesn’t fit with many modern tactical setups - even less so at the age of 37. His presence, while a supremely fit player, is likely to be more static and divorced from the build-up as ever before.
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Ronaldo’s not doing this for the love of Man Utd. He’s not requesting he be sold for the greater good of the project. In fact the opposite is the case - he thinks this season could be yet another bust, and he wants no part of it. He came back, he scored goals, and now he’s looking to get out, to ideally get a two-year deal somewhere else and perhaps a final elite payday.
And so ETH will play it well. He’ll talk about how much he hopes that Ronaldo will stay but that if he doesn’t want to be there, then it’s his job to take the club forward. Ronaldo will then, almost certainly, move on.
And it could be the piece of luck that Ten Hag needs to get his Manchester United squad into the correct mindset from the beginning.
