Erik ten Hag has brushed off Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest criticism of him by insisting: “He’s far away from Manchester.”
Ronaldo reignited his feud with Ten Hag by saying the Manchester United manager sent out the wrong message by claiming, in an interview during the summer, that the club were a “long way” from being able to win the Premier League and Champions League.
The former United striker – who has been playing for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League since leaving in late 2022 – also cast doubt himself on United’s ability to win the league, claiming it would be “difficult”.
But Ten Hag gave short shrift to Ronaldo’s comments when quizzed on the subject ahead of United’s game at Southampton tomorrow and implied he was not too concerned about the opinions of a player 3,200 miles away in Saudi Arabia.
“He [Ronaldo] said that Manchester United can’t win the Premier League – he said this if you read the article very well,” the United manager said. “So he’s far away from Manchester. Everyone is entitled to have an opinion. It’s OK.”
Ronaldo had claimed he had “no respect” for Ten Hag during a bombshell interview that led to his exit at Old Trafford after a stormy second spell at the club.
Back-to-back defeats by Brighton and Liverpool have heightened the pressure on Ten Hag heading into the trip to Southampton. But Ten Hag insisted the noise surrounding his management of United had no bearing on him.
“It doesn’t impact me, I know in the process where we are, where we’re going,” he said. “We’re in the transition period, we have to integrate a lot of young players in the team.
“We have to bring the injuries [injured players] back in the team. Before anyone thinks about excuses, we have to win every game, I know that, the team knows this. We will focus on every game and have the mindset we have to win.”
United took their spending during Ten Hag’s reign to more than £600m this summer. Chief executive Omar Berrada said the Dutchman had the club’s “full backing” after the 3-0 defeat to Liverpool intensified the scrutiny on the manager and Ten Hag stressed the campaign was still in its infancy.
“We will see where we are in May next year,” he said. “It’s very early in the season, it’s about winning trophies, be as high as possible in the league, do everything to win every game, then we will see in May where we are. When you see the scores nobody is happy, but players have a very good sense of the process.
“We have good characters, we feel the team spirit, know it’s about patterns and routines and you see the quality on the training pitch. We have to win all the games, that doesn’t change, that will always be the approach.”
Ten Hag said new £42m midfield signing Manuel Ugarte was available to face Southampton, but it will come too soon for Luke Shaw and Rasmus Hojlund.
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