Why Cristiano Ronaldo left Man Utd: CR7’s turmoil revealed
Robin Bairner
- 30 Sept 2023 08:43 BST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo’s second spell at Manchester United ended in disappointing fashion as he departed the Old Trafford club little under a year ago after a fallout with manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo had been made peripheral by the former Ajax manager, often being reduced to a role on the bench, and he ultimately snapped, speaking out against Ten Hag and those at the club in an unsolicited interview with Piers Morgan.
Man Utd great Gary Neville has explained just what went wrong during a turbulent period in the all-time great’s career.
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“I think he did very well in terms of goals. He has a character and a personality in which he does not accept second parts,” Neville told Marca.
“I criticised him because my opinion is that, when you are a leader in the locker room and you are a leader in world football, there are different ways of teaching, different ways of mentoring and different ways of coaching the younger players on the team who are not at your level.
“I think Cristiano should have modified and adapted his leadership style at United to the players in the locker room who needed mentoring, training and levelling up.”
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Ronaldo is now playing with Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, where he is scoring prolifically, but Neville says that he struggled to accept playing with inferior players at an uncompetitive Man Utd side.
“Cristiano got frustrated with them, he got angry with them and that was visible sometimes during the games and, in the end, it became a kind of confrontation,” Neville added.
“I have played with him, he has an incredible level and has worked as hard as any other player I have played with; everything you see in Cristiano is talent and hard work.
“He wants to win, he is desperate to win, he wants to score goals and he wants to be the best player in the world, so I think it has been difficult for him, maybe because he has reached the end of his career in teams that did not have the level that he had seen before.”
Ronaldo scored 19 Premier League goals in his 40 Premier League matches for Man Utd during his second spell.
