Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has criticised Cristiano Ronaldo over his fitness and commitment during their time together at Old Trafford, claiming the forward was no longer able to perform at the highest level after leaving Juventus in 2021.
Ten Hag, now technical director at Dutch club FC Twente, made the comments during an interview with ESPN NL’s Goedemorgen Eredivisie on Sunday.
Ronaldo returned to United from Juventus in 2021 and scored 27 goals in 54 appearances under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag. However, their relationship broke down as the Portuguese star was regularly dropped from the starting line-up.
United eventually ended his contract in November 2022 after his explosive interview with Piers Morgan, where he said he felt “betrayed” by Ten Hag and criticised the club’s management.
Explaining their disagreements, Ten Hag said Ronaldo’s failure to put the team first created problems.
“The challenge is to get the team functioning, really as always. Every player is important in that and you need top players to be able to win. Every top team must embrace the top player, but the top player must work for the team. And that was simply the problem with Ronaldo.”
He admitted that other players admired Ronaldo but insisted his ability to deliver had declined.
“The players wanted to work for him and they looked up to him because let there be no misunderstanding about that. He is of course a tremendous player, one of the greats of all time. But that is also the reality over the last seven, eight years he simply can no longer deliver. From Juventus onwards it’s simply over.
“And that is actually the great gift of Real Madrid — they always know when to say goodbye to players at the right moment. They recognise when a player’s level is declining and they say goodbye at a moment when to the outside world, they still appear to be at their peak. But they can no longer actually deliver.”
