Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has told Erik ten Hag that he should only consider selling Cristiano Ronaldo if he truly wants to leave the club.
Since Ronaldo walked down the tunnel at Old Trafford before the full-time whistle during the 2-0 win against Tottenham, he has been welcomed back to the first-team. Ten Hag dropped the 37-year-old for their following game against Chelsea, but the pair appear to now have put the issue to bed.
The Dutchman selected Ronaldo for the starting XI during United's 1-0 win over West Ham on Sunday, and with Anthony Martial still out with injury, the Portuguese international could be set for consecutive starts when the Reds take on Real Sociedad in the Europa League on Thursday.
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The incident heightened speculation that Ronaldo could look to depart the Old Trafford outfit in January, with his contract at the club set to expire at the end of the season. Although the dust seems to have settled, and talk of a move silenced - if only for now, Evra has admitted that Ten Hag should let Ronaldo leave the club if he wants to.
He told the PA news agency from the Web Summit in Lisbon: "What I think is Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player on earth and Ten Hag is a manager who wants Manchester United to perform and win trophies. They both have their reasons and I know they will find the best solution, either to work together or maybe one leaves because at the end I am only focused on United and the most important thing is United, not Ronaldo or Ten Hag."
He added: "If one player wants to leave, you shouldn’t keep him. I don’t know if now he wants to leave or not but when we talk like that, it is not easy if he has to keep being benched."
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