Jamie Carragher claims Cristiano Ronaldo’s decision to give a bombshell interview to Piers Morgan was because he wants to engineer an exit from Manchester United.
Ronaldo said he had ‘no respect for Ten-Hag’ and that United had stagnated since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 during a controversial tell-all interview with Morgan on Sunday night.
The 37-year-old was denied his wish of leaving the club last summer as he informed United too late into the transfer window of his desire to exit.
Ten Hag felt Ronaldo could have a future at the club if he accepted that he is no longer a guaranteed starter but the Portugal captain has refused to do so.
Ronaldo was fined two weeks’ wages for refusing to come on against Tottenham in October and he’s set to be hit with a £1m fine for his decision to speak to Morgan, which the club were unaware about until after the win against Fulham.
Carragher was one of the few dissenting voices when Ronaldo made his sensational return to the club in August 2021.
And the Liverpool legend says United are paying for their mistake now, as Ronaldo now ‘wants to be sacked’.
‘Yeah he wants to be sacked, I think that’s obvious,’ Carragher told Sky Sports News.
‘He told the club in the summer that he wants to leave so i’m not sure where this disrespect comes from Erik ten Hag, I just don’t get this at all. I think he disrespected Manchester United and Ten Hag.
‘He wanted to leave in the summer, that’s football. He wanted to leave but there was no takers – maybe because of his wages or the price that Manchester United wanted and I think he knows that will be the same in the next transfer window or next summer and he’s now trying to get sacked or allowed to to leave for free because that’s the only way he can get out.’
United’s board will meet with Ten Hag today to discuss how to deal with the fallout of Ronaldo’s interview.
It’s not beyond question that they will decide to terminate Ronaldo’s contract and Carragher says he must leave the club one way or another.
‘I think they should just sack him or move him on by giving him a free transfer,’ said Carragher.
‘At the moment they’re trying to build something that’s not ready to win the Premier League to Champions League right now but they’ve got a manager that in the next two to three years will want to push for those honours and Ronaldo won’t be around.
‘He’s going to be a distraction, this will not go away. As soon as a player says he doesn’t respect the manager, how’s that going to work when he comes back from the world cup? You don’t need the hassle. it’s exactly why I said 18 months ago it was a massive mistake to bring him back to the club.’
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