Man Utd: Ten Hag drops blunt Ronaldo response after fresh slam with ‘far away in Saudi’ verdict

Head coach Erik ten Hag has issued a response to Cristiano Ronaldo after the Manchester United legend claimed his former club must “rebuild everything”.

Ronaldo and Ten Hag butted heads during their time together at Man Utd and the Portugal international left Man Utd at the end of 2022.

The veteran forward had his contract cancelled after he hit out at Ten Hag, the Glazer family and club legends during an interview with Piers Morgan.

Ronaldo was reduced to being an impact player as Ten Hag attempted to overhaul Man Utd’s style of play and the forward did not take this well.

His childish antics also hurt Portugal at Euro 2024 and he had a fresh dig at Ten Hag earlier this week.

Ten Hag is the joint-favourite to be the first Premier League manager sacked this season and Ronaldo does not reckon Man Utd “can compete” to win major trophies.

“As I told you, Manchester, they need to rebuild everything, in my opinion,” Ronaldo said.

“The coach, they say they cannot compete to win the league and Champions League.

“(As) Manchester United coach, you cannot say that you’re not going to fight to win the league or Champions League.

“‘You have to be, to mentally say, listen, maybe we don’t have that potential, but I cannot say that. We’re going to try. You have to try.”

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Ronaldo added: “If Ten Hag listen to Ruud, maybe he can (help himself). I think it can help a lot because he knows the club and the club should listen (to) the guys who were there.”

In response to these comments, Ten Hag brushed off Ronaldo and said he’s “far away in Saudi”.

“No, he said this, if you read the article very well,” Ten Hag said.

“He is entitled to his opinion. It’s OK. He is far away in Saudi, far away from Manchester.”

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Ten Hag was also insistent that outside “noise” does not impact him. He added: “It doesn’t impact me. I know where we are in the process and what we have to do and where we are going.

“I have said before we are still in a transition period. We have to integrate a lot of young players in the team and still have to deal with injuries and bring players back into the team.

“Before anyone thinks about excuses, no, we have to win every game. I know that. The team knows that. It doesn’t matter who is available.”

Ten Hag also provided an update on summer signing Manuel Ugarte, Rasmus Hojlund and Luke Shaw.

“Rasmus Hojlund and Luke Shaw they are progressing very well but not ready for this game,” Ten Hag continued.

“Manuel Ugarte, I think we all have seen he played for Uruguay.

“He returned this afternoon, he was the only player who returned today. All the other players returned yesterday, so he is available for this game.”