Man Utd legends turn on ‘unpalatable’ Ronaldo
Robin Bairner
- 4 Aug 2022 09:04 BST
- 4 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo has started to turn some of the biggest names in Manchester United history against him as he continues to force his way out of the club.
Ronaldo returned late for pre-season training with the Red Devils because of personal reasons and missed the tour to Thailand and Australia in the process.
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When he did finally return last week, he made a very public exit from a pre-season friendly against Rayo Vallecano before the match had even finished.
Although the club tried to cover his tracks by stating that he had been given permission to leave, manager Erik ten Hag soon revealed that this was not the case and that Ronaldo’s actions were “unacceptable”.
With senior figures within the club breaking ranks on the party line, club legend Gary Neville has now come out in criticism of the player.
"He’ll go down in the top players of all time and always will be, and what happens this summer at Manchester United will be forgotten about in 20 years. But it’s unpalatable for me to watch, as an ex-Manchester United captain, an ex-Manchester United senior player, and thinking that at this moment in time the star player in the dressing room is playing up,” Neville told the Overlap podcast.
“It happened at times over the last few years where you had Paul Pogba’s agent – not necessarily Pogba all the time but his agent – always playing up with the club. You can’t have your star player in a club running the shop. You cannot have it.”
More Ronaldo criticism
Neville is not alone in criticising Ronaldo, though. Louis Saha, who was a team-mate of the Portuguese’s during his time at Old Trafford, told Sky Bet: “In some way, from Cristiano Ronaldo’s point of view it’s a bit unrealistic to ask now a club of this size to adapt to him and his dream.
“I’m not Cristiano but as someone who seems to be a supporter of Manchester United, I have felt like he hasn’t shown completely enough of that, he is thinking about himself.”
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And former players from outside the Old Trafford club have hit out at Ronaldo, too. Former Chelsea centre-back Frank Leboeuf, who won the 1998 World Cup with France, told ESPN FC: “It's wrong. It’s not professional with all due respect and the fact I appreciate the player and what he achieved in his career, but it’s not professional and disrespectful towards the club.
“You have to stay, you have to show respect to the other players, to the fans that came.
“You still belong to the club, you signed for it, you have to play for them, didn’t make any mistakes
“They want to keep you so the only thing you have to say is at least sit on the bench and wait until the end of the game.”
