Ten Hag eager to get out of Ronaldo drama

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was not interested in commenting on the drama around Cristiano Ronaldo after the striker completed his move to Al Nassr.

The 37-year-old left United in November when the two sides agreed to terminate his contract following a very public disintegration of their relationship which began at the end of last season.

Ronaldo did not take part in United's pre-season tour for personal reasons, a situation accompanied by numerous reports that the Portuguese great wanted to leave.

When Ronaldo finally showed up for pre-season training, he and several team-mates left Old Trafford before the end of the friendly with Rayo Vallecano, conduct Ten Hag described as 'unacceptable' by all involved .

Ronaldo was subsequently dropped entirely from the squad for October's clash with Chelsea after refusing to act as a late substitute against Tottenham, but the final straw came a few weeks later when he participated in a remarkable interview with Piers Morgan. , taking the opportunity to publicly criticize the club and Ten Hag.

This unsurprisingly led to the termination of his contract and Ronaldo eventually signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia on Friday, but Ten Hag simply refused to talk about his former player after the 1- 0 from Saturday. defeat the wolves.

"I'm not talking about the past, let's talk about the future," Ten Hag told reporters.

"We made a good step today. It's the first time we've been in the top 4, but that doesn't mean anything because there's still a long way to go.

"We have to live from match to match, put ourselves in a position to win something."

Ronaldo may have been the first to take the wrath of Ten Hag at United this season, but he certainly wasn't the last.

Marcus Rashford found himself on the bench for the trip to Molineux after missing the start of a team meeting due to excessive sleep.

The England striker came on for the second half and scored United's winning goal, with the narrative ultimately reflecting Ten Hag and Rashford quite well, the former for his decisive leadership and the latter for his response.

United defender Luke Shaw was keen to hail the manager's commitment to discipline, suggesting it was a change from some of his predecessors.

"At a top club like this, it has to be like that," he told BT Sport. "I think people can't do whatever they want and maybe that's been part of the problem in the past, with people getting away with stupid little things.

"The manager takes all of this into consideration. As you saw today, if you don't live up to the high standards, you won't play."

United's win saw them finish 2022 fourth in the Premier League, just two points behind Newcastle United, after overtaking Tottenham.