When asked if Ronaldo could be thrown into the starting eleven, Ten Hag said: “We’ll see on Sunday. I’m satisfied with the whole team, they’re working really well, it’s a good culture and Cristiano is also working hard well, very hard and hard.
“I am very happy [with Ronaldo], I already told you. We have a top striker, I’m very happy he’s here, he’s in the squad and we’re sticking to the plan.”
Jamie Carragher: ‘Ronaldo has acted as if he is bigger than the manager and even Manchester United’
Despite Ten Hag’s claims, Jamie Carragher, writing in his Telegraph Sport column, believes the United manager should tell the Old Trafford board to facilitate Ronaldo’s departure on a free transfer “for the sake of Manchester United”.
“Since his return, Ronaldo has been treated and acted as if he was more important than the manager, and even bigger than Manchester United,” Carragher writes.
“It is damaging and undermining, casting a shadow over the early months of Ten Hag’s reign.
“Here we are heading into a new season and all roads still lead to Ronaldo. The obsession with Ronaldo and his future is overshadowing any positive momentum that normally follows a managerial appointment.
“The best way for Ten Hag to look to the future is to shed the superstar clinging to past glories.”
“There were a lot of players who left early, but the focus is on Cristiano… that’s not right”
United have yet to reveal which other players left the Vallecano game earlier – Diogo Dalot was the only player seen leaving at the same time as Ronaldo, but he had not been in the matchday squad – but Ten Hag he insisted it had been a mistake to highlight. the forward
“I have to aim [out], the ones that left, there were a lot of players that left, but the focus is on Cristiano and that’s not right,” said Ten Hag. “Do your research and find out a lot of players that are staying, which is not right. That was what was said. he [Ronaldo] was part of it. Again, there were a lot of players.”
Ten Hag’s headaches go beyond Ronaldo and injury concerns. United have yet to sign Ten Hag’s top transfer target Frenkie de Jong and now face the threat of Chelsea hijacking a deal for the Barcelona midfielder. But Ten Hag appeared to hint on Friday that it was De Jong or broke and that he would stick with what he has if United fail to secure a deal for the Netherlands international.
Asked if he could accept the close of the transfer window without the midfielder he craves, Ten Hag said: “Then you work with the current squad and develop players who are in your current squad. At the moment we have players in this position they have done very well.
“You don’t need any player, you need the right player, that’s the point and what we’re working on. If he’s not the right player, no, and I’m happy with the current squad. We need the right players.
“Do we want Frenkie? I don’t know. It’s about the right players and I can’t comment on a player who has a contract with another club. If we have news, we’ll bring it.”