Cristiano Ronaldo has severed ties with the United squad after criticizing the club and manager Erik ten Hag in a fiery interview.
The United squad believes it would be preferable if the club could offload Ronaldo while he is at the World Cup and that the star should not return to Old Trafford.
The mood will not have improved following the first episode of Ronaldo’s interview with Piers Morgan, which aired on Wednesday night and in which he criticised the attitude of United’s young players and claimed that only his Portugal teammate Diogo Dalot is destined for a long career at the top.
“Their hunger is distinct.” ‘I think they have it easier, everything is easier, they don’t suffer – and they don’t care,’ Ronaldo said.
‘If you ask me what I see at Manchester United, I’ll probably mention Diogo Dalot.’ He’s young, but he’s very professional, and I have no doubt that he’ll have a long career in football.’ We have a few more, most likely (Lisandro) Martinez, but as with Dalot, it’s difficult to say.’
Ronaldo confirmed that he was ‘close’ to joining Manchester City before returning to United last year, questioned the club’s decision to fire Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and was critical of the Norwegian’s replacement, interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
‘The new coaches, they think they’ve found the last Coca-Cola in the desert,’ he added.
Part two of Ronaldo’s interview with Ten Hag will air on Thursday night, but his teammates believe he has betrayed Ten Hag and the club, not the other way around, as he claims.
Ronaldo, who has missed the last two games for Manchester United due to illness, was absent from Portugal’s training session in Lisbon on Wednesday due to a stomach bug and is questionable for Thursday’s final World Cup warm-up game against Nigeria.