It means Ronaldo will almost never play for United again and it is understood the 37-year-old has been instructed not to return to the club’s training base in Carrington after featuring with Portugal at the World Cup in Qatar. Speaking to Piers Morgan on Talk TV, Ronaldo made a number of claims about United. These included that he is being forced out of the club, that senior management lacked empathy following the death of his newborn son in April, that the owners, the Glazer family, do not care about the club and that the manager, Erik ten Haag, does . don’t respect him. On Friday, a club statement said: “Manchester United has this morning initiated the appropriate measures in response to Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent media interview. We will not comment further until this process is complete.” Ronaldo’s contract is worth around £500,000 a week and expires in July. United had no prior knowledge of the interview given by Ronaldo, who wanted to leave in the summer. He is due to arrive in Doha on Friday at 23:00 local time with the Portugal squad ahead of the team’s first training session on Saturday afternoon. Ronaldo is in his second spell at United after a hugely successful six-year spell that ended in 2009 with three Premier League titles, the FA Cup, two League Cups, the Champions League and the Ballon d’Or. His individual contribution made him a hero to United fans and ranked him among the club’s greatest players. Ronaldo’s return in the summer of 2021 has been enthusiastically welcomed by supporters and hailed as a coup by Ten Hag’s predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But going public with his allegations against United Ronaldo has seriously damaged that position and status. Subscribe to Football Daily Start your evenings with the Guardian’s view of the world of football Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. This followed his departure before the end of July’s friendly with Rayo Vallecano and October’s 2-0 win over Tottenham in the league. Despite this, Ten Haag made Ronaldo captain for a 3–1 defeat at Aston Villa on 6 November. It looks like this will be his last appearance for the club.
