Lee Sharpe has claimed Cristiano Ronaldo should take a leaf out of Ian Rush's book from when the legendary Welsh striker was at Leeds United. Ronaldo has caused huge controversy this week following an interview with Piers Morgan, where he blasted Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag and several of his former teammates.
The Portugal international has had to settle for a more reduced role at Old Trafford this season amid struggles to reach his best form. He has started just four Premier League games and has not been afraid to show his discontent, walking out of the stadium early in Man United's 2-0 win over Tottenham last month after Ten Hag decided against bringing him off the bench.
At 37, Ronaldo is now at the same age as Rush was at Leeds, who he scored just three goals for in 39 matches. In an interview with OLBG the Liverpool legend's former Leeds teammate Sharpe told a strange story of when Rush was forced to play at wing-back during his time at Elland Road, stating that he just 'got on with it'. He believes Ronaldo should do the same.
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He said: "It's already coming out that Ronaldo's teammates are trying to distance themselves from it, trying to put it out of their minds. It's not nice when a star player criticises the manager, the players and the club facilities.
"I always think players like Ronaldo set the bar on the pitch on how good they are, how hard they work in training, but they also need to set the standard of how to conduct themselves off the field. This interview is not setting an example, he needs to rise above the troubles he is having.
"When I was at Leeds, we had Ian Rush who came from Liverpool at 37 years old as a legendary striker. He made a deal with the manager about playing a certain number of games, getting involved in the team's coaching side, and bringing the Liverpool ethos, but the manager was sacked after a month.
"George Graham came in as manager and said 'you don't have a deal, you're just a player', Rush agreed. We ended up having Rush, a 37-year-old, playing at wing-back, clearing the ball from our own corner flag. Rush was not exactly happy about it, but he didn't go away to the press and media to slag off the club and the manager, he just did his job and got on with it.
"I don't know what Ronaldo's end game is and I don't know what he will achieve except a move away from the club. Some say Ronaldo had a conversation with Eric Ten Hag at the start of the season about leaving the club, but I've heard rumours that the manager allowed Ronaldo to leave but the Glazers wanted him to stay."
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