For the second time in a matter of weeks, former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has delivered a scathing verdict of Cristiano Ronaldo, pointedly rubbishing the repeated claims about the forward’s legendary worth ethic.

Only last month, Ten Hag tore Ronaldo down during a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic when discussing their shared time at Manchester United. The Dutch boss accused the five-time Ballon d’Or winner of “letting the team down” by failing to physically prepare himself while also instructing his teammates to “save their legs” in training sessions.

Not content with that character assassination, Ten Hag went on ESPN’s Goedemorgen Eredivisie program to claim that Ronaldo “hasn’t been able to deliver” long before he even returned to Manchester United in 2021.

Ronaldo Could ‘No Longer Suffer’

Ronaldo’s legacy as one of the greatest players of his generation or any other has been built upon his formidable strive for self-improvement. This is a character who would sneak into Sporting CP’s club gym at night to get in extra sessions as a teenager, laying the foundations for a talent which would take him to Manchester United, for the first time, in 2003.

It was at Old Trafford where Ronaldo’s work rate was cranked up even further. “Everything was a lesson for me,” he would tell The Times years later. “[Being at United] taught me to train hard all the time ... to eat properly, sleep good, recovery sessions, everything. You have to dedicate yourself 100%.”

Yet, by the time Ronaldo returned to Manchester almost two decades later, his willingness to make that signature extra effort had deserted him—according to Ten Hag at least.

“He could no longer bring himself to endure the necessary suffering,” the Dutch boss revealed. “To get the most out of every single day. To get fit. If you aren’t fit in the Premier League, you don’t stand a chance. He’s still capable of finishing chances—you can still see that. But if you can no longer get into the penalty area...”

Ronaldo’s Record Under Erik ten Hag

• Games: 16
• Starts: 10
• Minutes: 1,051
• Goals: 3
• Assists: 2
• Yellow Cards: 3

Ten Hag pointed this out to Ronaldo. “You hold up a mirror to him and present arguments that hold water. Then, things become very clear.” There was no angry reaction when faced with the cold hard numbers. “No,” the manager shrugged. “In modern soccer, everything is tracked.”

“Every top team needs to embrace its star player, but that star player must also be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the team,” Ten Hag admitted. “That was precisely the problem with Ronaldo.”

After dropping in and out of the Premier League starting XI over the first few months of the 2022–23 season, Ronaldo conducted a scathing interview about Manchester United as an entire establishment during the mid-season World Cup break which brought an abrupt conclusion to his second spell. “Ultimately, the choice was his,” Ten Hag said of Ronaldo’s exit. “Whether he was willing to make that investment. If he wasn’t, then I had to make different decisions for the sake of the club. And that’s what we saw happen.”

Ten Hag’s Scathing Assessment of Ronaldo’s Later Years

If this is the end, it wasn’t meant to end this way. pic.twitter.com/IoHayRTesH

— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) October 1, 2026

In Ten Hag’s blunt view, Ronaldo had already fallen off his untouchable pedestal as soon as he left Real Madrid in 2018, four years before the Dutch coach took over Manchester United. Ronaldo had just won a third Champions League title on the spin with the Spanish giants, scoring 44 goals in as many appearances, before moving to Juventus for around $117 million.

“Let there be no misunderstanding on my part: he is, of course, a fantastic player,” Ten Hag began. “He ranks among the all-time greats. But the reality is that, for the last seven or eight years, he hasn’t been able to deliver at that level. From his time at Juventus onward, it was effectively over.”

Ronaldo was 33 when he moved to Turin and would begin life in Italy with back-to-back Serie A titles, directly contributing to 96 goals in 98 league appearances across his three years at Juve. Even in his first season at Manchester United before Ten Hag was appointed, Ronaldo scored 18 Premier League goals, a tally surpassed by only two players across the entire division that season.

Nevertheless, Ten Hag held up Madrid’s decision to part ways with Ronaldo as yet another example of their shrewd approach in the market.

“That is also Real Madrid’s great strength,” the former Ajax manager gushed. “They recognize when a player’s level begins to decline. They part ways at a moment when, to the outside world, the player still appears to be at their peak—even though they are no longer truly capable of delivering.”