Cristiano Ronaldo’s criticism of Erik ten Hag and his desire at struggling Manchester United was dismissed on Thursday, with ten Hag stating that Ronaldo is “far from Manchester”.

After making disparaging remarks about his Dutch manager, Ronaldo’s second stint at United came to an abrupt end in November 2022, producing a public split.

This week, the 39-year-old Al-Nassr player criticised Ten Hag once more, claiming that his demeanour was unsuitable for a team of United’s significance.

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“You cannot say that you’re not going to fight to win the (Premier) League or Champions League,” Ronaldo stated in an interview with Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

“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.”

Additionally, he stated that the team must “rebuild everything” and that it “will be difficult” for them to contend for the largest prizes.

From 2003 until 2009, Ronaldo’s trophy-filled first stint at United had Ferdinand as a teammate.

Following his two League Cup and FA Cup victories in the previous two seasons, Ten Hag expressed his “quite confident” outlook for further hardware this season.

However, he declared in July that his club is still a “long way away” from being prepared to win the Premier League, given that United hasn’t been named English champions since Alex Ferguson’s last season in 2013.

Ten Hag responded as follows during a press conference on Thursday, in response to Ronaldo’s remarks regarding his mindset:

“He said that Manchester United can’t win the Premier League. No, he said this if you read the article very well.

“So, he’s far away in Saudi, far from Manchester. Everyone is entitled to have an opinion. It’s OK.”

Following United’s crushing 3-0 home loss to fierce rivals Liverpool, there was an international break before Ronaldo’s interview.

However, Ten Hag said he was unaffected by it.
“It doesn’t impact me,” he insisted. “I know in the process where we are, what we have to do, where we are going.

“I have said before we are still in a transition period. We have to integrate a lot of young players also in the team.

“We are still dealing with injuries, we have to bring the injuries back in the team. Before anyone thinks about excuses, no, we have to win every game.

“I know that, the team knows this and it doesn’t matter who is available. We will focus on every game and have in every game the mindset that we have to win.”

Although they defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May, United’s Premier League campaign last year was their worst ever, as they finished ninth.

The 20-time English champions have dropped their first three league games of the year and will visit Southampton on Saturday.

Rasmus Hojlund and Luke Shaw are still out, but a fresh recruit Manuel Ugarte, who represented Uruguay in midweek, may make his debut.