Erik ten Hag has gone back on the offensive about Cristiano Ronaldo, saying the forward has not been able to deliver at his old level for seven or eight years. He made the comments to A Bola, weeks after speaking about Ronaldo again in a separate interview, and also repeated that the split at Manchester United was shaped by tension and team standards.
Ten Hag's latest argument
"All big teams have to welcome big players, but the big player also has to give space to the team. That was simply the problem with Ronaldo," Ten Hag told A Bola, in comments translated from Portuguese. He added that Ronaldo is "of course, a great player" and "among the greatest in the world," but said the reality is that he has not been able to correspond in the last seven or eight years.
That is a strong line, but it is still his view. Ten Hag also pointed to the numbers from Ronaldo's time under him at Old Trafford, saying the forward scored three goals in 16 games before leaving Manchester United in November 2022 after contract termination.
The Old Trafford split
Ten Hag said the relationship was tense during Ronaldo's second stint at Trafford, which is the part of this feud that still hangs around the club. He has used Real Madrid as the contrast point before, praising them for knowing when to part ways with a player before the decline becomes obvious publicly.
Ronaldo's current output does at least show he is still producing. He has 3 goals in 5 appearances at the 2026 World Cup and has played 453 minutes across those games, with a 6.9 rating over the tournament so far. None of that erases Ten Hag's opinion, but it does show why the argument keeps getting revived whenever he speaks.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →
