Ronaldo Advices Erik Ten Hag On United Success: Portuguese football icon Cristiano Ronaldo believes Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag should follow assistant manager Ruud van Nistelrooy’s advice if they are to improve the club’s conditions and revive their past success.
While Ronaldo is most known for his record-breaking time at Real Madrid, he is also a United legend. Having first signed with the club in 2003, CR7 went from a fiery prospect to one of the best players in the world with the Premier League outfit. Under legendary United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, the Portugal international scored over 140 goals in six seasons and even won several PL and UEFA Champions League titles.
He even won the 2008 Ballon d’Or while with the Red Devils, his first of five. All this resulted in him getting signed by Real Madrid in 2009 for a then-world-record fee of 80 million euros as a 24-year-old. And the rest is history.
In his early years with United, Ronaldo played on the left wing alongside Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. Ruud was among the best strikers in the world in the 2000s. In the six seasons he was with the English giants, he scored a whopping 150 goals in 219 appearances before signing for Real Madrid in 2006. Ronaldo and van Nistelrooy also shared the Los Blancos locker room for a season before the latter signed with Hamburg late in his career.
The former United striker was appointed as the Manchester United assistant coach ahead of the 2024/25 season.
Ronaldo Advises Erik Ten Hag On United Success
Having played with the Dutch legend so much, Cristiano believes that Ten Hag, who is also Dutch, should pay heed to his assistant manager if he is to take the club out of the rut they find themselves in.
“I believe that Ruud [van Nistelrooy] is going to help because he was inside the club. He knows the club. He knows the fans. If the coach listens to him, I think they can improve a little bit the club,” Ronaldo said on former United teammate Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the highest goalscorer in international football, then continued,
“If Erik ten Hag listens to Ruud, maybe he can [help at mufc]. I think it can help a lot because he knows the club, and the club should listen to the guys who were there. You [Rio] or Roy Keane or Paul Scholes or Gary Neville, whatever, Sir Alex Ferguson. You cannot, you cannot rebuild a club without knowledge. Not guys who work in the office. They understand.”
Finally, Ronaldo went into Ten Hag, whom he had a tiff with during his second stint at the club, a tiff that resulted in the legendary striker leaving the club to join Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. Cristiano Ronaldo commented on how the United manager recently claimed that they are no longer Premier League or UCL title contenders. CR7 believes that the manager of such a massive club should not say things like this out loud.
“They need to rebuild everything, in my opinion. The coach, they say they cannot compete to win the League and Champions League. Manchester United coach, you cannot say that you’re not going to fight to win the League or Champions League. You have to be, to mentally say, listen, maybe we don’t have that potential, but I cannot say that. We’re going to try. You have to try.”
Manchester United has gotten off to a poor start to the PL season. After struggling to defeat Fulham 1-0 on Matchday 1, they then lost to Brighton 2-1 despite dominating offence. Then, they lost to rivals Liverpool 3-0 right before the international break.
Get the Latest English Premier League Updates at IceCric.News and Follow for Live Updates – Facebook & Instagram.
