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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Samuel Luckhurst

What Cristiano Ronaldo is telling Erik ten Hag at Manchester United

Erik ten Hag insists Cristiano Ronaldo has not told him he wants to leave Manchester United.

It emerged in early July that Ronaldo's preference is to move to another club in the Champions League after United's failure to qualify for the competition.

Ronaldo's salary was slashed by 25% due to United's sixth-place finish and if he stays at United he would play in the Europa League for the first time since October 2002 when he was a 17-year-old at Sporting Lisbon.

Also read: United make decision on Mejbri's future

United's slow activity in the transfer market has also irked Ronaldo, 37, who is under contract until next year and the club has the option of an additional year.

Ten Hag named Ronaldo on the bench for United's season-opening defeat to Brighton after the Portuguese only played 45 minutes in pre-season, having missed United's tour of Thailand and Australia due to a family issue.

Ronaldo is in contention to line up in United's first away game of the new campaign at Brentford as Anthony Martial is still out with a hamstring injury.

When asked whether it would be prudent to start a player who wants out, Ten Hag replied: "That is your assumption. That is not what he is telling me.

"So I deal with the players we have and we plan with him for this season and we are happy with him and we have to fit him into the team. So he has to come at the right fitness levels so that he can do the job that we expect him to do.

"In every press conference, we already confirmed that he is in our plans. We plan with him so we also plan around him."

Last week, Ten Hag said United had to recruit the "right players" in the transfer window before the club bid €8million for Bologna forward Marko Arnautovic.

The approach went down so badly with the United fanbase that hundreds emailed chief executive Richard Arnold threatening to cancel their season ticket if the move went through, on sporting and integrity grounds amid allegations of racial abuse against Arnautovic.

Ten Hag coached Arnautovic at Twente between 2008-10 and had recommended the 33-year-old Austria international as a squad player to support the younger attackers.

When it was suggested bidding for Arnautovic was a "mistake", Ten Hag added: "Also an assumption but I cannot speak about players who are under contract. When we have news, we will bring them like we did with Christian Eriksen, Tyrell Malacia, with Lisandro Martinez. Then we will announce it.

"Of course, there are developments in the transfer market but still we have to get the players in who can contribute and not get players in who cannot do, then we have to do with the squad and then we have to improve the team."

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