Cristiano Ronaldo is ‘furious’ with Erik ten Hag and is questioning his ‘stubborn’ methods at Manchester United, according to reports.
The Portugal legend wanted to leave United over the summer after the club failed to qualify for the Champions League last campaign.
Super-agent Jorge Mendes was unable to find a new team for his client, who then missed the beginning of United’s pre-season schedule due to family reasons.
Perhaps unsurprisingly – given his desire to leave and limited pre-season – Ronaldo has endured a tough start to the season, scoring just one goal in 11 games in all competitions.
Ronaldo has started just one of United’s seven Premier League games under Ten Hag, who has put his faith in Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.
Ten Hag has publicly insisted that he will continue to rely on Ronaldo throughout the campaign but their relationship is believed to be strained to say the least, with Ronaldo expected to push for a January move.
The Times describe Ronaldo as being at ‘loggerheads’ with the Dutch manager, who he views as ‘stubborn’ and ‘unnecessarily wedded’ to the style of football he implemented at his former team Ajax.
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It is claimed Ronaldo has privately complained about the ‘nature and quality’ of Ten Hag’s training sessions, with the Red Devils suffering heavy defeats to Manchester City and Brentford already this season.
Ronaldo is also reported to be ‘furious’ after Ten Hag claimed he did not bring him on during last week’s Manchester derby ‘out of respect’.
‘I wouldn’t bring him in out of respect for Cristiano and for his big career,’ Ten Hag said after the 6-3 loss.
Speaking just a few days ago, Ten Hag finally conceded that Ronaldo was ‘p**** off’ with his lack of game-time at Old Trafford.
‘He’s not happy that he didn’t play Sunday, don’t get me wrong, but the question was about his mood in training, where he’s happy,’ said Ten Hag.
‘Of course, he wants to play and he’s p***** off when he’s not playing. ‘It’s always about, you live by the day, you line up the strongest team you had, but there are differences and no one is the same in the team.
‘I treat everyone with respect, but they have all different backgrounds, so I have to treat players to get the best out of them.
‘When you are here, when you are happy, satisfied on the bench, this is not the club you have to be.
‘Cristiano is really competitive, he is not happy when he is not playing, but I have to repeat, maybe you didn’t hear, he is training well, he is in a good mood, he is motivated and he gives his best and that is what we expect.’
