Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Manchester United returned to the Red Devils last season and won the Premier League’s “Player of the Year” award after spending three successful seasons with Juventus in Italy.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who turned 37 this year, however, became dissatisfied with United as a result of the team’s poor on- and off-field performance in 2021 and received pressure from manager Eric Ten Hag.
Why did Cristiano Ronaldo receive cautions from Eric Ten Hag?
Erik ten Hag has given Cristiano Ronaldo advice after the player has sat out three straight Man Utd contests and after altering Manchester United’s style of play, the manager informed Cristiano Ronaldo he needed to contribute more on and off the ball this year than he did last.
Ronaldo has played in United’s last three matches as a substitute, coming off the bench in the victories over Liverpool, Southampton, and Leicester.
The 37-year-old was unable to leave Old Trafford during the transfer season, and after a lackluster cameo at St. Mary’s last weekend, he looked better in his 22 minutes at the King Power Stadium on Thursday.
The dismal 4-0 loss at Brentford, which was Ronaldo’s only start in United’s first five Premier League games, makes his absence from the starting lineup for the last three games all the more shocking. Anthony Martial hasn’t been healthy enough to start any of those games, either.
The Portuguese forward missed a major portion of United’s preseason, skipping the entirety of the team’s trips to Thailand and Australia due to personal obligations and participating in just 45 minutes of the last friendly against Rayo Vallecano.
Ronaldo made it known that he wanted to move on and join a Champions League team during his preseason campaign.
However, no offers came in, therefore Ronaldo must now accept that he will remain at United until January. He will be hoping to be called up for the interesting Premier League matchup against Arsenal on Sunday at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag has warned Ronaldo that he must provide more than he did last season in order to succeed under a new coaching staff. Ten Hag will use both the carrot and the stick to try to get the best out of a forward who scored 24 goals last season.
As of today, it is clear that the dream of playing Champions League football for Ronaldo is now over until January 2023, but he is the kind of person who is famous for fighting till the end to achieve the ultimate goal.
