Erik ten Hag’s most complicated issue this season has been managing the situation of Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United ’s highest earning player with the largest status, but whose role in the team is uncertain.
Ronaldo, 37, has been intent on departing United for the past four months after his high-profile return from Juventus last year did not go to plan. Despite netting 24 goals across all competitions last season, United's collective form nosedived, and they finished a distant sixth in the Premier League.
The Portuguese superstar stormed down the tunnel at Old Trafford after Manchester United's recent dominant two-goal victory over Tottenham – with boss Erik ten Hag axing the star for the following trip to Chelsea. It is now anticipated that he will leave Old Trafford next year, and potentially as early as the January transfer window.
That is despite Ronaldo being restored to the team for the following victories over FC Sheriff Tiraspol – in which he scored – and in Sunday’s victory over West Ham. However, Anthony Martial’s absence, the patchy form of Jadon Sancho and the late exclusion of Antony due to injury had dwindled Ten Hag’s attacking options.
Ronaldo’s return to United last year was driven by his former Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who managed him from the ages of 18 through to 24, helping develop the once skinny winger into a superstar attacking talent. The Scot continually promoted Ronaldo’s return to the club in 2021.
“Cristiano was the most gifted player I managed,” Ferguson wrote in his autobiography in 2013. “He surpassed all the other great ones I coached at United - and I had many.
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“The only ones who could be placed near him would be a couple of the home-produced players, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, because they contributed so prodigiously to Manchester United for two decades.”
During their six seasons together, United won three Premier League titles, an FA Cup, two League Cups and their crowning achievement in the Champions League in 2009. They retained a close relationship in the decade since, despite Ronaldo focusing his talents on winning titles for Real Madrid and Juventus.
Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford last year was Ferguson’s final influential transfer at the club whom he had stepped down from as boss eight years earlier. It was also the final deal of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ’s time in the dugout at United.
Ten Hag is the new man in at the club with the Dutchman holding a decisive role in the club’s transfer strategy, including signing his former stars Lisandro Martinez and Antony, alongside Christian Eriksen – whom he invited to train at Ajax last season – and Tyrell Malacia, whom he knew as a rival in the Eredivisie.
