Journalist Duncan Castles has offered an update on the relationship between Cristiano Ronaldo and Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, in the Times.
Ten Hag recently said that Ronaldo is annoyed when he does not play but painted a picture of a man who is motivated and generally happy behind the scenes.
Castles, who is generally well connected when it comes to Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes, has reported otherwise.
The report says that Ronaldo does not rate Ten Hag’s style of play or training sessions and has voiced his opposition behind the scenes.
Ronaldo not happy with life under Ten Hag
The report says that Ten Hag would sell Ronaldo in January but it remains to be seen whether the club will take the financial hit on the Portugal captain.
It must be said, this contrasts with ESPN’s report yesterday, which says Ten Hag would be reluctant to let Ronaldo go in January, because money is unlikely to be made available for a replacement.
ESPN’s report also says that United do not expect any club that Ronaldo would find it acceptable to join to come calling this winter.
The Times’ report mentions links with Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, but they were all essentially non-starters in the summer.
Graham Potter is at Chelsea now, instead of Thomas Tuchel, but he has Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang now, and would he really want Ronaldo?
Castles’ report also says that Ronaldo held out for a salary on par with his United one when looking to leave during the summer.
That means precious few clubs can afford him and even those with that facility may not want to make such a huge financial investment in a player of his age.
It remains to be seen how this plays out but it seems pretty clear that Ronaldo’s camp want it out there in no uncertain terms that he is still not happy and looking to move.
But this approach is hardly likely to encourage Ten Hag to change his approach of benching Ronaldo for league matches, with Everton next up on Sunday.
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