Erik ten Hag should take a leaf out of the Sir Alex Ferguson playbook and allow Cristiano Ronaldo to leave Manchester United in the January transfer window.
That’s the opinion of former United defender David May, who witnessed first-hand how Ferguson maintained his authority in a dressing room full of egos during his time at the club. The legendary United manager was not scared to offload talented players if they questioned his judgement, stepped out of line or asked to leave.
He was the master of rebuilding and refreshing his squad at the end of every season, putting his set of non-negotiable rules above everything else. And May, who was at United from 1994 to 2003, sees parallels between a few situations then and under Ten Hag now.
Ronaldo was dropped from the United squad to face Chelsea on Saturday and fined after refusing to come off the bench against Tottenham in midweek. The 37-year-old is unhappy over his lack of game time and agitated for a transfer over the summer.
May believes that, although Ten Hag has dealt with Ronaldo’s poor behaviour perfectly so far, he might have to go a step further after the World Cup. Despite Ronaldo’s status in the game and legacy at the club, he thinks Ferguson would have had no qualms about selling him in the January transfer window.
“Behind closed doors things are never perfect at football clubs, things are always going on,” May told Mirror Football , speaking on behalf of 888sport. “There are always people arguing and people moaning because they’re not playing. That’s up to the manager to sort out and Ferguson was brilliant at it.
“No player is bigger than the club, so you let players go. He let [Roy] Keane go, Jaap [Stam], Ruud [van Nistelrooy] and many, many others. As long as Ten Hag has the dressing room, which he does, and the players abide by his rules, which they are doing, then everything is good. What they don’t want is the dressing room overruling the manager, because if that happens then you’re in trouble.
“No player should be dictating to the players and the manager about how the club should be run. Whether you’re playing at Stockport or Manchester United, it doesn’t matter. As soon as the manager loses that edge of authority then you will always get this type of stuff. So he’s done the right thing – he’s left him out of the squad, spoken very well about the reasons and now we move on.”
May also relayed a famous story about Paul Scholes as another example of how Ferguson stamped out any sign of mutiny in the squad. “There was one example where Scholesy didn’t play,” he said. “He should have played down at Arsenal. Scholesy went to see the gaffer, who said he wasn’t playing, so he went home – he actually met him at the train station. But the manager dealt with it, he fined him two weeks wages, which is the maximum you can do, and moved on.”
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Ronaldo has contributed just two goals and one assist in 12 appearances this season, with Ten Hag only handing him two starts in the Premier League so far. May thinks that the door should be left open for him to leave the club in January – and a replacement might not even be needed, given the promise of Anthony Martial.
“It’s a tough call. Ronaldo might want to leave – and if he wants to leave: there’s the door. Any player that wants to leave Manchester United, don’t stand in their way,” he said.
“If he’s not going to be beneficial to the team then it’s fair enough [to sell him], depending on the transfer window. Will he bring anyone in to replace Ronaldo? If Martial was fit I don’t think Ronaldo would get much game time, because I think Martial has been fantastic, but he’s had a couple of injuries which have scuppered his start.”
David May was speaking on behalf of 888sport . Head to 888sport for the latest sporting odds.
