Erik ten Hag "open to selling" Cristiano Ronaldo
Karan Tejwani
- 27 Aug 2022 19:25 BST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo is running out of time to leave Manchester United this summer, and his relationship with coach Erik ten Hag may not be good either.
Ronaldo wishes to play at a club where he can enjoy Champions League football in the final years of his career, and will miss out this season if he remains at Manchester United, who are in the Europa League.
Several other clubs such as Chelsea and Bayern Munich have rejected the chance to sign Ronaldo this summer, citing his age, high financial cost or tactical fit as their reasoning.
Now, it’s emerged that Ten Hag is open to selling Ronaldo, having maintained that he wanted to keep the Portuguese in the squad for the rest of the season.
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Trouble between Ronaldo and Ten Hag?
According to The Times, Ronaldo has been unimpressed by Ten Hag’s reaction following Manchester United’s 4-0 defeat to Brentford in the second game of the season.
Ten Hag shifted the responsibility of the defeat to the players and their physical output and that hasn’t gone down well with Ronaldo.
This has made the manager open to the idea of selling Ronaldo, having already dropped him for the following two matches against Liverpool and Southampton, which Manchester United won.
The report adds that the Glazer family would back Ten Hag’s decision and are prepared for the commercial consequences of selling Ronaldo, as well as be willing to spend on signing a replacement.
3 important points! 💪🏽 #mufc pic.twitter.com/ArVuHXDCF1
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) August 27, 2022
Recent reports have suggested Sporting and Napoli are interested in a deal, but the Portuguese side’s coach, Ruben Amorim, doesn’t want to bring him into the side.
There’s a belief he’ll be willing to walk out if Sporting sign Ronaldo without his approval, which is of concern to the club at the start of the season.
With Napoli, Jorge Mendes is believed to be working on a swap deal involving Ronaldo and Victor Osimhen, but that is proving to be difficult at this late stage of the transfer window.
Should Ronaldo remain at Manchester United, it will mark his first time in the Europa League since playing for Sporting as a teenager.
