Erik ten Hag must have envisioned a different start at Old Trafford. But Cristiano Ronaldo managed to make the beginning of his tenure in Manchester United bitter and forced him to criticize the team’s best player for leaving the stadium before the end of the pre-season. However, it seems that he did the most damage to himself, because it was as if he turned the entire Britain’s public against him with one stroke.🔴GARY NEVILLE on Cristiano Ronaldo🗣️”It’s unpalatable for me to watch, as an ex-United captain, an ex-United senior player, thinking that the star player in the dressing room is playing up.#MUFC pic.twitter.com/GrBRBnvwoR— The MU Stand (@themustand) August 3, 2022 It is true that he would quickly bring the public back to his side with goals, but judging by the current outbursts of anger, it’s safe to say that Ronaldo is less and less popular, and more and more hated. And even his former teammate Gary Neville cannot justify the Portuguese’s behavior.“Let me be really clear, Ronaldo’s achievements in football go beyond anything that anybody could ever wish for and imagine. He’ll go down in the top players of all time and always will be, and what happens this summer at Manchester United will be forgotten about in 20 years. But it’s unpalatable for me to watch, as an ex-Manchester United captain, an ex-Manchester United senior player, and thinking that at this moment in time the star player in the dressing room is playing up. It happened at times over the last few years where you had Pogba’s agent – not necessarily Pogba all the time but his agent Mino Raiola – always playing up with the club. You can’t have your star player in a club running the shop. You cannot have it” said Neville to Overlap.What Cristiano did was unacceptable, as per Erik ten HagFurthermore, although he has always been keen on Ronaldo, the team’s solid performances in the build-up and the encouraging displays of Antonio Martial in the attack should, Neville believes, make the decision easier for the club’s management. We all know which one.“We know Ronaldo can’t do high pressing – and the way in which he wants to play on the ball, I’m not sure he fits into Ten Hag’s way. When that statement came out that Cristiano Ronaldo wants to leave and then the Monday morning I think something else came out – I’m not sure the club were even aware. The timing was horrific coming into the start of the season, it undermined Ten Hag straight away – it meant that Ten Hag literally has had every single press conference that he does is just obliterated by the Ronaldo issue. I think looking back, Pep Gaurdiola, Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte, Sir Alex Ferguson – if a player becomes the dominating factor, and a distraction in the press conference for a manager, there’s only one thing that has to happen. We all know it” said Neville.Ronaldo and Maguire top the list of the most abused Premier League playersAnd if former Ronaldo’s teammate was so honest about the situation, we couldn’t expect anything better from Jamie Carragher, who was in line with Neville’s comments about the Portuguese forward.“I always thought he Ronaldo was a bizarre signing. I always felt this situation would come, even if Ronaldo did great for you Manchester United. He signed a two-year deal plus another year, which I couldn’t believe, and he’s never going to play second fiddle to anyone but as players at a certain stage in your career we all know that you’re not the same player, and his career has gone on longer because he’s such a great professional. But the fact he’s now 37, 38 he’s still a great goalscorer but he’s not the same player. No other club in Europe at this moment wants him, I might be wrong. And I think if you asked Ten Hag, I don’t think he wants him. And I’m not quite sure the dressing room at Manchester United would want Cristiano Ronaldo right now” said Carragher. Maybe his native Sporting Lisabon, a regular in the Champions League could fulfill his wish to play at the highest level and still be “the king”…
