The manager of Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag, has made a revelation about his conversation with Cristiano Ronaldo when he first arrived at the club.
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The Dutchman was speaking in an interview where he confirmed that the first time he heard that Ronaldo wanted to leave United was after his interview with Piers Morgan. There had been reports about Ronaldo's future since the summer when he reportedly told Red Devils chiefs he wanted to leave the club. However, Ten Hag claims he never heard of the Portuguese desire to leave the club.
Until that moment in the [Morgan] interview, I never heard anything. In the summer, we had one talk. He came in and said, I will tell you in seven days if I want to stay. Then he came back and said, I want to stay. The interview I think as a club you can't accept. There will be consequences. To make that step he knew the consequences but before then he never told me. The interview I think as a club you can't accept there will be consequences.
He also said that he did everything possible to keep Ronaldo at the club and he also claimed that he was honest with him about everything.
We wanted him to be part of our project and for him to contribute to Manchester United because he is a great player. He has such a great history, but it's the past and we have to look into the future and so I don't spend my energy on it. When he is in good shape, he is a good player and he could help us to get back and achieve the objectives we have. That is quite clear, but he wasn't. I wanted him to stay from the first moment until now. He wanted to leave, it was quite clear. And when a player definitely doesn't want to be in this club, then he has to go, clear. I did everything honest and open and transparent and we had talks about my vision, so I don't have a problem to talk with him. I would have preferred it to be a different way because I wanted to work with him. But he chose another way.
Ronaldo's contract was terminated by Manchester United following the review of the interview with Morgan which raised a lot of eyebrows at the club's hierarchy.
