Erik ten Hag has criticized Cristiano Ronaldo and other Manchester United players who walked out of Old Trafford as Sunday’s friendly with Rayo Vallecano continued and said it was unfair to single out the Portuguese.
Ronaldo, the only matchday squad known to have left early, was pictured outside the stadium with Diogo Dalot, who did not take part. This week the manager claimed it was “unacceptable” to have walked off before the final whistle. Ten Hag was asked how he had dealt with this. “You mention it, you correct them and then you move on,” he said.
Ten Hag held back when asked specifically about Ronaldo. “What do you mean? I have to aim now [out] that those who left, there were many players who left, but the focus is on Cristiano. That’s not right, so do your research and do it [clear] many players left, that’s what was said [by him].
“I don’t understand what the relationship is [singling him out] – was part of it. There were a lot of players.”
Ten Hag wondered why Ronaldo and the others felt it was okay to leave early. “I think we’ve said enough. I said it wasn’t right,” he said.
Ronaldo wants to leave United and Ten Hag was asked how happy he was with the 37-year-old. “I’m very happy, I told you before,” he said. “We have a top striker, very happy he is here with the squad and we are sticking to the plan.”
In pre-season, Ronaldo played just 45 minutes against Rayo and has been training for the past two weeks. Ten Hag confirmed that Anthony Martial will miss the visit of Brighton on Sunday with a hamstring injury, but would not dare to say whether Ronaldo will feature.
“I’ll see you on Sunday,” he said. “I am satisfied with the whole team, we are working well [with a] good culture and Cristiano is working very hard and hard.”
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Ten Hag’s number one target is Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, but with less than four weeks left in the window there is still a stalemate in their pursuit.
“Do we want Frenkie?” said Ten Hag. “Is [recruitment] on suitable players and I cannot comment on a player under contract at another club. When working with the current squad and developing players from your current squad, [I see] at the moment we have players in this position who work very well.”
Ten Hag said Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez were available for selection after their pre-season was cut short.