An interview with The Athletic

Erik ten Hag has criticised Cristiano Ronaldo in an interview with The Athletic, published on 20 October 2026, several years after the two worked together at Manchester United. Ten Hag, now technical director at FC Twente, said the forward had let the team down and let him down too. He said the club had planned around Ronaldo, and that before taking the job he had flown to Portugal to talk with the player about his aims.

“He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him.”

Ten Hag described Ronaldo as one of the best players in football history and said he had respected him a great deal. As a manager, he said, he had to make a rational decision and keep the players he admired.

Preparation and fitness

The main complaint concerned training and physical preparation. Ten Hag said he had often told Ronaldo that teammates were working to put him in the right position, but that a striker who did not get into the penalty area could not score. He said Ronaldo ran neither with nor without the ball, and that the reason was that he had not prepared himself. Ten Hag rejected the suggestion that he had expected Ronaldo to lead the pressing until he was exhausted.

According to Ten Hag, Ronaldo also told teammates to save their legs in training. Ten Hag said he understood that approach only for players already at peak fitness, and that players first had to build the right fitness level through training. He added that every top team has to embrace its best player, but that the best player has to work for the team.

“Obviously, he's one of the best in football history. I respected him a lot.”

Ten Hag's time at United

Ten Hag was in charge for about half a season in 2022/23, according to N-tv, before Ronaldo left in January 2023 after a dispute and moved to Saudi Arabia. Ronaldo was 37 at the time. Under Ten Hag, Ronaldo scored three goals in 16 outings, the BBC reported. In October 2022 Ten Hag dropped him for a Premier League game at Chelsea, three days after Ronaldo had refused to come on as a substitute against Tottenham.

Ten Hag also said he had wanted to sign Frenkie de Jong, Harry Kane and Declan Rice, and that he had opposed the sale of Scott McTominay to Napoli in August 2024. He pointed to criticism in the Netherlands that he had spent too much on the wrong players, with Antony cited as an example after United paid 95 million euros to Ajax. He said he was not the one who conducted the transfer talks or handled the finances.

Suspension and next steps

The interview came as the Portuguese Football Federation had given Ronaldo a 30-day suspension and fined him 255 euros (£215) for leaving his country's international camp, according to the BBC. Ten Hag was sacked by Manchester United in October 2024, after winning the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024. The Athletic reported that Ronaldo had not responded to its request for comment on the criticism.