Manchester United: Steve McClaren reveals why Cristiano Ronaldo let down Erik ten Hag

While Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United two years ago, his relationship with head coach Erik ten Hag is still making headlines. Former United assistant manager Steve McClaren has now revealed the surprising reason the Portuguese star “fell short” to Ten Hag’s standards.

“I couldn’t fault Ten Hag’s approach,” McClaren told The Telegraph. “He really handled it very well. I said at the time he was the right man to go in. That was shown in the way he handled Ronaldo,” he said.

“He came in with set standards. Set rules. Set way of playing. And if you didn’t run, you didn’t play. He was rigid on that. He knew that was what was needed,” he explained. According to him, Ten Hag “tried to adapt” to Ronaldo, but he then “didn’t feel it was necessary to do that”, and instead “developed other players.”

While Ronaldo left United in 2022 by “mutual consent,” the Portuguese gave an explosive interview with Piers Morgan in which he claimed that the club forced him out, while also slamming Ten Hag for not respecting him.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Erik ten Hag had a tense relationship (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

However, in a recent conversation with former teammate Rio Ferdinand, Ronaldo admitted that he “still loves” United, and that he wishes them “the best” despite how he left. “We cannot control things at some point in our life sometimes, but it’s done and already done,” he said.

Ronaldo recently criticized Ten Hag’s approach

The Al Nassr star also shared his thoughts on Ten Hag’s approach as head coach of United, saying that he needed another mentality, saying that the clubs needed “to rebuild” and to “listen” to its former stars.

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“[The] Manchester United’s coach can not say they can’t compete to win the Premier League and the Champions League every year. This is Man United!” he claimed. “Listen, maybe we don’t have that potential, but I cannot say that. We’re going to try. You have to try,” he told Ferdinand on his YouTube channel.