'He knows the club': Ronaldo wants Ten Hag to take advice from 5-time title winner

In an interview with Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo has questioned the attitude of manager Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.

The Red Devils have had a poor start to the Premier League season and they have picked up only three points from the first three games.

The club are four points adrift of the top four. Saturday’s fixture at Southampton already seems a must-win for the Mancunian giants.

Speaking to Ferdinand on his YouTube channel, Ronaldo said United need to build everything and he is not impressed by Ten Hag’s current attitude.

The Portuguese star added he does not agree with the 54-year-old that United cannot compete to win the Premier League and Champions League.

He told Ferdinand (via Goal): “As I told you, Manchester, they need to rebuild everything, in my opinion. The coach, they say they cannot compete to win the League and Champions League. (As) Manchester United coach, you cannot say that you’re not going to fight to win the League or Champions League.”

In the same interview, Ronaldo mentioned that Ten Hag needs to listen to Ruud van Nistelrooy, who knows the club from inside.

The 39-year-old believes the Dutchman can improve the club’s fortunes by taking advice from the five-time league title winner.

He further said: “If Ten Hag listens to Ruud, maybe he can (help himself). I think it can help a lot because he knows the club and the club should listen (to) the guys who were there. You [Rio] or Roy Keane or Paul Scholes or Gary Neville, whatever, Sir Alex Ferguson. You cannot, you cannot rebuild a club without knowledge.

“Not guys who work in office. They understand. The people who understand the football, it was, 99 per cent is the people who were there in the dressing room. They know how to deal with the players. It’s the people who understand these things.

“So I believe that Ruud is going to help because he was inside the club. He knows the club. He knows the fans. If the coach listens to him, I think they can improve a little bit the club.”

Ronaldo had a poor relationship with Ten Hag during their short time together. They were a lot of differences and the forward eventually left the Red Devils on a free transfer in late 2022.

The club were forced to mutually cut ties with him after an explosive interview with Piers Morgan. After an extended gap, Ronaldo has unsurprisingly reignited his feud with the manager.

In our view, the interview was unnecessary at the current point of time. The club are in a transitional phase and Ten Hag is aware that a Premier League title challenge is far away.

The Dutchman has the complete backing from the hierarchy despite a difficult start this season. He has the vote of confidence after guiding the club to FA Cup glory in May this year.