It seems former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has had enough of Cristiano Ronaldo and his prolonged transfer saga. Neville has come out lashing at the Portuguese and insisted he should keep his ego aside and stay at Old Trafford. Ronaldo wants to leave United for his desire to continue in the Champions League and his agent Jorge Mendes has even held talks with a number of potential suitors.
Ronaldo is reportedly at crossroads with the club as manager Erik ten Hag has repeatedly asserted he wants to keep him. The forward missed the club’s entire of preseason tours to Thailand and Australia in order to force an exit. However, Ronaldo did return for the United’s friendly against Rayo Vallecano and featured for only 45 minutes of the first-half.
But tensions boiled between him and the club after he left for home well before the final whistle. The authorities around the club believe this was another attempt from the striker to facilitate a move away from Old Trafford. Ten Hag too was furious over Ronaldo’s this behaviour slamming it as “unacceptable”.
Neville asks Cristiano Ronaldo to act like a ‘leader’
Gary Neville, who shared the dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo for six years from 2003 to 2009 had some harsh words for the 37-year-old over his stubbornness in leaving the club. The former full-back feels Ronaldo should display ‘leadership’ qualities and act as an example for the youngsters of the club.
Speaking to Sky Sports in post-match analysis after the Arsenal-Crystal Palace game, Neville said: “I hope he stays, but I’m a little bit disappointed in him to be honest. Would it be too much to ask him to come out to do an interview to clear things up and tell us what he’s thinking and what’s actually happening.”
He further added Cristiano Ronaldo’s this stunt has left the club in an unwanted situation. “Manchester United shouldn’t be in the position, I feel it’s a little bit unpalatable. Is it too much to ask over the next 12 months for him to encourage the young players, be a leader on the pitch.
“Do the interviews when your team win and when your team lose, make sure you set the standards that he always does in training in terms of his performance. Score the goals, and let everybody let him leave Manchester with the highest thoughts. This is messy for him, this is messy for the club, this is messy for everybody.”
Neville also suggested that new boss Erik ten Hag won’t be able to rebuild the club with such an environment and that all of this is only creating distraction. He said, “We want him [Cristiano Ronaldo] to stay, we’re desperate for him to stay. We just don’t like these sagas that drag on. They never look good, they always look a little bit sort of distasteful. And I think it needs clarifying, it needs sorting out quite quickly.
“We can’t have this going on for another three weeks if you’re a Manchester United fan, and certainly if you’re Erik ten Hag. He does need to be able to concentrate on the whole team, on his performance, on the tactical way of playing. He doesn’t want to be distracted all the time by the star player – ‘Is he going to stay, is he going to go?'”
Nonetheless, despite all the happenings behind the closed door, Ronaldo could still be a part of United’s Premier League opener against Brighton. Anthony Martial will miss the game due to an injury and Ronaldo as a result could start at Old Trafford.