Wayne Rooney has been slammed by Piers Morgan for his criticism of Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United.
Ronaldo's future at Old Trafford is currently up in the air after he told the Reds at the beginning of pre-season that he wished to leave the club should a 'reasonable' bid be offered for his services. Since then, no bid has been received and United's board have been adamant that he will remain at the club.
The 37-year-old has since returned to Carrington and has featured in the Premier League for Erik ten Hag after he missed the pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia due to 'family reasons'. United have lost both of their opening matches of the season to Brighton and Brentford, and they face Liverpool on Monday night.
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Ahead of the fixture, Rooney gave Ten Hag some advice in his column for The Times. "I wouldn't play Cristiano Ronaldo, and I wouldn't play Marcus Rashford," the DC United boss said.
"If I was in Ten Hag's position my main concern would be getting energy on the pitch, and United's failure to recruit a 'number nine' means they relied on Ronaldo against Brentford, even though he hadn't trained a lot with the team. He looked like he needs time to get match fit.
"He has also let it be known that he wants to leave the club. I don't know his reasons but, as I wrote in my last column, I'd let him — he's a great player and will always score goals but the task for Ten Hag is to produce a team that can compete for the title in three or four years' time. That means rebuilding with younger players."
Former Good Morning Britain host Morgan would take exception to Rooney's comments, slamming the former England international for the form his current team is showing in America.
He said in a tweet: " Rooney has a managerial win record of 28 per cent and his DC United team lost 6-0 yesterday. So I suggest he pipes down with the management advice and endless jealous b******* about Cristiano Ronaldo whose talent, success & fitness levels all dwarf Rooney's."
Morgan, who supports Arsenal, famously interviewed Ronaldo and urged him to sign for the Gunners before he would eventually return to Old Trafford for his second spell.
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