Cristiano Ronaldo forced a departure from Manchester United last month but despite his controversial exit, the 37-year-old is still making headlines and they are often tied to the club.
Ronaldo left the club in November after he took part in an explosive 90-minute interview with TalkTV host Piers Morgan, in which he was heavily critical of the club and manager Erik ten Hag.
His departure put an end to his 15-month spell at the club after he returned in 2021 when he became Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s final signing in charge of the Reds.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, another veteran forward signed by United in recent years, has now commented on Ronaldo’s conspicuous exit, arguing that we will never quite know the truth about what really happened.
“His exiting United, I think when things happen, we will never know the true story,” Ibrahimovic is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
“They say what they want to say, he says what he needs to say to protect himself, then you have the coach that says these things to protect himself.
“Then the club says things – not like me, I will tell you how it really happened. But we are all different. Everybody is careful about their image.
“For me the perfect image is being yourself. The true story we will not know my friend.”
Controversy has followed Ronaldo since he left United, with Portuguese boss Fernando Santos taking a leaf out of Ten Hag’s book and demoting the striker to the bench for crucial World Cup games. Ronaldo was named as a substitute for both of Portugal’s knockout games against Switzerland and Morocco.
SN’s verdict…
As Ibrahimovic points out, the public only gets to hear what is put out there by the people involved and they will, of course, be looking to protect their own image above all else.
This was, however, a highly explosive situation and although Ten Hag restrained himself, you could imagine how he was feeling when Ronaldo laid it all out there for everyone to see.