LONDON: Cristiano Ronaldo has lashed out at Manchester United’s top hierarchy for not trusting him when he missed the pre-season due to his daughter’s illness and claims that “the Glazer family do not care about the club”.
Ronaldo took the world by storm in his latest interview with the British news channel Talk TV, accusing Man Utd of betraying him and saying that he has no respect for manager Erik Ten Hag.
In the latest clip of a 90-minute interview released on Monday, the 37-year-old star footballer revealed that he was subjected to suspicion by two senior figures at Old Trafford when he said his daughter, Bella, was suffering from bronchitis – just three months after her twin brother had died.
“I spoke with the director and the president of Man Utd and they kind of didn’t believe that something was going wrong, which made me feel bad,” said Ronaldo.
“We had one week in hospital because Bella had a big problem and I didn’t go to the pre-season because of that.” he added
Man United forward also took a dig at the club’s owners – the Glazer family – saying they did not care about the club on the sporting side.
“Manchester are a marketing club – they get money from the marketing,” he said. “The sports, they don’t really care in my opinion.
The Glazers, who took over the club in a leveraged buy-out in 2005, leaving United with a debt of over £500 million, have been harshly criticized by fans and blamed for the club’s downfall.
“The fans are always right. The fans should know the truth. They should know that the players want the best for the club, I want the best for the club.” he said.
“This is why I came to Manchester United, this is why I love this club but you have some things inside the club which doesn’t help it reach the top level as City, Liverpool and even now Arsenal.”
Ronaldo claimed that under the prevailing set-up it would be difficult for the club to compete for top honours in the next two to three years.
“It will be hard for Manchester United to be top of the game in the next two or three years,” he said.
Currently, the five-time Ballon D’Or winner is with the Portugal squad in Qatar for FIFA World Cup 2022 and in his Instagram post, he pressed that his absolute focus was on national teamwork.
Reportedly, Man United United will seek legal advice before deciding how to respond to Ronaldo’s accusations and will await the release of the full interview later this week before taking any step.
