The sad state of Cristiano Ronaldo’s second season back at Manchester United has been widely covered and now, the 37-year-old’s future at Old Trafford is hanging in the balance.
After refusing to come on as a substitute against Tottenham earlier this week, Ten Hag made the decision to leave the forward out of first-team training and Saturday’s squad against Chelsea.
With United looking for back-to-back wins against top-four rivals, Ten Hag has now insisted that the turbulent situation surrounding Ronaldo has not affected the squad.
“For the outside world, yeah, but not for us,” Ten Hag told Football Daily, as seen above, when quizzed on whether the situation has affected the club.
“Our focus is totally on this game, the players are prepared, they are focused, they are concentrated and they are working to get a result here.
“We are happy, the whole squad is happy with the performance (against Tottenham). Of course, it’s an issue (with Ronaldo) because he’s a member of the dressing room and an important member.
“But we are professional and focused on the game. They are focused, they are concentrated and also they enjoyed in the training and that was good to see.”
United’s performance against Tottenham was undoubtedly the best one under Ten Hag and that will have strengthened his hand in this situation.
Simply put, United have looked better when Ronaldo is not on the pitch and he must accept that as things stand, his chances to impress will come as a substitute.