Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has been accused of "strange" treatment of Cristiano Ronaldo by former player Luke Chadwick.
Ronaldo, 37, wanted to depart the Red Devils this summer after just one season back at United following his high-profile return from Juventus last year, but this ambition was not realised as he remained at Old Trafford.
The Portuguese superstar was left "upset" at seeing his pay slashed at Man United after each member of the squad was hit with a 25 per cent cut to their weekly wage due to the club's failure to qualify for the Champions League. Yet Ronaldo was unable to secure an exit, with no club willing to meet his wage demands and guarantee him regular football.
Ronaldo has been excluded from each of the last five starting Premier League line-ups by Ten Hag and was forced to watch on as an unused substitute in Manchester City's 6-3 derby demolition of United on Sunday. Marcus Rashford started the game with Anthony Martial – who netted two consolation goals – appearing as a second-half substitute.
That led to Roy Keane accusing the club of showing "disrespect" to the veteran forward and the former United captain's teammate Chadwick – who made 39 first-team appearances at the club – has now added that it was "surprising" to see Ronaldo not brought on as a second-half substitute.
Speaking to Caught Offside, Chadwick explained: "It was quite strange that Ronaldo didn't come on at the Etihad. It was quite strange to see the manager saying he was being respectful to him by not bringing him on, as I'm sure Ronaldo would’ve wanted to come on and tried to make an impact in a big game like this.
Have Your Say! Should Man Utd allow Ronaldo to leave in January ? Tell us what you think here.
"It'll be interesting to see what happens on Thursday evening, as that looks to be where Ronaldo's getting the majority of his minutes at the moment in time. It is strange to see and I'm sure Ronaldo's not happy with it. He's one of the best to have ever played the game, and he's going to be wanting to play football, especially with the World Cup in a couple of months' time."
The former United midfielder added: "And of course, after the World Cup we'll be coming towards the transfer window, so we'll see if he will leave in that period, but it seems strange really that United didn't let him go in the summer because he doesn't seem to be getting much playing time at all. It seems a bit of a waste to have him there just sitting on the bench, I can't imagine he's going to want to do that for much longer."
United football director John Murtough poured cold water on the idea that there will be first-team movements in or out of the club this winter, suggesting that Ronaldo will not be going anywhere, despite his lack of regular football.
