Manchester United manager Eric Ten Hag has confirmed Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo is still in the team’s plans just hours before the end of the summer Mercato.
The curtain falls on Thursday for the current summer transfer market in European leagues, which saw Manchester United secure several deals worth £226m as the most expensive club in the European leagues during this Mercato.
But Ronaldo is the most visible name at Manchester United, having asked to leave the club due to poor results, failure to qualify for the Champions League, a 25% deduction from his salary and disagreement with the levels of some of his colleagues.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes of Portugal offered the 37-year-old veteran’s services to a number of European clubs, according to reports that have been circulating over the past month, but they all turned him down either because of his age or because of his high salary.
Ten Hag said at a press conference today, Wednesday ahead of Manchester United’s match against Leicester City scheduled for Thursday’s Premier League matchday 5, in response to a question about Ronaldo’s future and whether whether he stays or not: “Of course, this is clear (regarding Ronaldo’s stay). Like I said, we need quality players.”
He added: “We want to have high-quality players and a lot of people at all matches, and we continue to follow the pattern that we are striving for – this is what we are striving for.”
And about the strength of Manchester United in attack, he said: “We want to strengthen ourselves in the front line. We play 3 matches a week and forwards get tired faster than other players. We want quality, but we also want quality.”
The Dutch manager’s start at Manchester United was a dismal one as he suffered two consecutive defeats to Brighton (1-2) and Brentford (0-4) in the new season before rebalancing and taking two consecutive wins for account of Liverpool (2-1) and Southampton (1-0) respectively.
Source: agencies