CRISTIANO RONALDO called for Manchester United captain Harry Maguire to be “DEMOTED” to the bench and labelled the centre-back “part of the problem”, according to reports.
The 37-year-old’s return to Old Trafford has not gone to plan and tensions grew last season as United crossed the finish line in sixth position – missing out on Champions League football.
And details have emerged surrounding Ronaldo’s demands as the team faltered in February.
According to sensational reports in The Athletic, Ronaldo made line-up suggestions and stated who he felt was his ideal strike partner.
It has also been claimed Ronaldo and a cohort of senior players, including ex-United ace Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane approached then interim manager Ralf Rangnick to discuss these issues.
However, club captain Maguire was NOT present and in the meeting with Rangnick, Ronaldo called on the England centre-back to be DEMOTED to the bench.
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The report goes on to state “Ronaldo retorted to say he believed Maguire was part of the problem”.
Rangnick expressed he felt the conversation was inappropriate without Maguire, and some of the other players present apologised to the German boss subsequently.
Ronaldo’s representatives, Gestifute, were approached by The Athletic for comment – but they’re yet to respond.
With just a day left of the summer transfer window, Ronaldo is unlikely to get his wish of a transfer away from United.
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Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, has held talks with a number of top European clubs.
However, no formal moves have been submitted for the legendary 815-goal striker.
Out of the four Premier League games played so far, Ronaldo has started just once, and that came in the embarrassing 4-0 away defeat to Brentford.
New boss Erik ten Hag’s decision to drop Ronaldo for last Monday’s game against Liverpool was justified by the end of the night as United went on to win the game 2-1.
A front three of Anthony Elanga, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho brought the energy Ten Hag says he needed.
Maguire too has found himself sitting on the bench in recent games.
Despite the previous two managers sticking with Maguire, and the player having a good relationship with his peers, he has found himself behind Varane and summer signing Lisandro Martinez in the pecking order.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
