Erik ten Hag has claimed Cristiano Ronaldo “didn’t prepare himself” in the right way for Man Utd matches and that the club “wasn’t the highest priority” for the Portugal international.
Ten Hag was sacked by Man Utd in October 2024 after a run of poor results left the Red Devils floundering in 14th place in the Premier League table.
Ronaldo left Old Trafford at the end of 2022 after a heated fallout with Ten Hag. His contract was mutually terminated after he burned bridges at the club in an infamous interview with Piers Morgan.
The 41-year-old snubbed interest from Europe to join Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr at the start of 2023. Since then, he has scored 134 goals in 157 appearances for the Middle East outfit.
Ten Hag: Ronaldo “let me down”
Ten Hag spoke about Ronaldo’s second spell at Man Utd in an interview with The Athletic. He said: “He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him. I flew out to Portugal to speak with him about what I was aiming for before I came to United. Obviously, he’s one of the best in football history.
“I respected him a lot. But at that time, as a manager, I had to make a rational decision and keep the players I admire in.”
Most people regard Ronaldo as a consummate professional, but Ten Hag has cast doubt on that by suggesting he “didn’t prepare himself” properly. The Man Utd legend was apparently telling other players to “save their legs” during training sessions.
Ten Hag added: “I confronted him with this. Many times I say, ‘Ronnie, everyone wants to work for you to bring you in the right position, but if you can’t bring yourself in the box, you can’t score’. He was not capable to do this. It’s the wrong idea to put this to me that I expected him to do the pressing, that he’s exhausted. But he couldn’t. He ran neither in possession nor out of possession. The reason was because he didn’t prepare himself.
“Every top team has to embrace the top player, but the top player has to work for the team.
“He was telling the players, ‘Save your legs at the training’. I understand it when you are top fit; you have sessions, you can save the legs. But first you have to train yourself to get into the right fitness levels.”
Much of what Ten Hag says tallies with what was seen at the 2026 World Cup, where Ronaldo struggled to get into the box and make an impact for Portugal.
Ten Hag continued: “Players have to act, they have a big responsibility. Football is, for some, not the highest priority. And United for some wasn’t the highest priority.”
The Madrid connection
Ten Hag also discussed the arrivals of Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Casemiro, a former Real Madrid trio. He said: “I can say I think that’s what the Madrid connection brought in, that players are powerful and they want to decide. In my opinion it didn’t suit the phase United was in. The leadership wanted attacking, dynamic football and these players wanted to play what fitted themselves.”
Why didn’t Man Utd sign Rice or Kane?
There were rumours that Ten Hag wanted Man Utd to sign Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice, who was then at West Ham. The Dutchman believes the Red Devils “could have done more to test” the Hammers.
Ten Hag explained: “The issue was that West Ham didn’t want to let him go. I think we could have done more to test. We were on one page, they tried, but I don’t know how the process went. The point is, at United you need outstanding players.”
The former Man Utd boss also claimed that Harry Kane was “very positive” about joining the Red Devils, but that the hierarchy were again unwilling to push the boat out for the ex-Tottenham striker.
Ten Hag revealed: “I said to them, ‘I want only one player — and you know who’. I fought for it. I heard that he was very positive, but I never spoke with him about the issue. I don’t know how the decision process went with John, Richard, the Glazers.
“They came to the conclusion. I don’t have the insights in the financials.”