Erik ten Hag began his era at Manchester United without Cristiano Ronaldo in his starting eleven. United suffered a disastrous 2-1 loss to Brighton at the Old Trafford, despite the Dutchman bringing on Ronaldo in the second-half. Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has now revealed the reason behind Ten Hag benching the Portugal international against Brighton.
Cristiano Ronaldo has long expressed his strong desire to leave United for various reasons, one of them being the club missing out on Champions League football. On the other hand, Ten Hag has insisted the Portuguese won’t be sold and is part of his plans for this new season.
Romano cites fitness concerns over Cristiano Ronaldo’s benching
While Cristiano Ronaldo starting from the bench fueled the speculations whether this was another effort from the forward to force his way out. However, Romano has suggested that the 37-year-old was not fit enough to start the game after missing the club’s preseason tours. Ronaldo had featured only once in a friendly game prior to the league opener and hence saw the bench than the starting line-up.
Romano while talking to CaughtOffSide said, “Internally, Manchester United confirm that Cristiano started the game on the bench because his physical condition is not yet 100%. It was not for market reasons, but certainly the situation remains open and will depend on any proposals in the next weeks. Jorge Mendes keeps working behind the scenes, while Cristiano is training professionally.”
While the Italian insisted Ronaldo could still move on this summer from United, he also explained that the club’s problems run deeper than just struggling to just the forward. Erik ten Hag has been handed with just three signings so far in Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martinez and Christian Eriksen. His top priority targets however have not yet been acquired with Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong being one of them.
Fabrizio Romano continued, “I believe that the Ronaldo saga is not the main problem for United, rather the need for 4-5 new signings compared to last season. Of course, it’s a story that generates a lot of headlines, but it’s clear from looking at the team on the pitch yesterday that there are bigger issues.”
Meanwhile, United’s transfer business seems to be going from bad to worse as they are now linked with Bologna’s soon-to-be 34-years-old Marko Arnautovic. The striker has emerged as a surprise target and the links have been receiving severe backlash from United fans.