Cristiano Ronaldo knew that his bombshell interview would lead to his early exit from Manchester United.
That's according to Piers Morgan, who has been discussing the shockwaves that his 90-minute sit down with Ronaldo earlier this month has caused. The interview was published in the week following United's galvanising late victory over Fulham ahead of the World Cup's opening game as the Portuguese took aim at club executives and ownership.
However, it was his shots at manager Erik ten Hag, as he said he did not respect the new boss, that made his position at the club untenable. A few days after the full interview was aired, it was confirmed that United and Ronaldo had mutually agreed to terminate his contract.
READ MORE: Ferguson was left "numb" by forgotten United player's horrific injury
Ronaldo's deal had been due to run until the end of the season, with the club holding the option to extend it by a further 12 months, but his second stint at the club has reached a premature end and he is currently without a club. It's a fate that Morgan believes Ronaldo knew would happen.
"To be brutally honest, I think that he knew," Morgan told FS1. "Look, he’s a very smart guy, Cristiano, he knows what he’s doing.
"He and I have built a relationship going back a few years now, and when he rang me he was like - 'I want to do an interview, I want to say everything'. I said, 'If you say everything I think you’re going to say, then you’re probably going to have to leave the club'.
"He went, 'I know'. So he knew what he was getting into. He didn’t think it was a certainty, he didn’t want to say in the interview I’m definitely leaving, I’m going to leave United.
"But this was a guy who at the end of his tenure felt he was being disrespected by the coach, Ten Hag, by the owners who he said he’d never even met [and] by the executives of the club who didn’t even believe him when he said his daughter was sick. So you put it all together you’ve got a disrespected guy who I think is the best to ever play the game. He said enough."
Ronaldo is representing Portugal at the World Cup and was asked about his departure in the aftermath of the win over Ghana. He said: "The most important step was that we won. This chapter is closed after this week. Now we start on a good foot. I helped my team and now it is done."
READ NEXT:
