Erik ten Hag may have won the battle against Cristiano Ronaldo, but a fresh report revealed it ultimately proved costly.
Ten Hag was relieved of his duties as Manchester United manager on Monday as his tumultuous two-and-a-half year reign came to an end.
Ten Hag was sacked by United on MondayGetty
Although Ten Hag cemented himself in United history by becoming one of four managers to win trophies in back-to-back seasons, his tenure was far from rosy.
One element of his reign that proved especially contentious was his treatment of Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
The legendary forward was brought back to Old Trafford by then-Red Devils manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, marking his return after 12 years away.
But Solskjaer was axed in November 2021 as Ralf Rangnick took over at Old Trafford albeit on an interim basis.
Ronaldo never quite saw eye-to-eye with the German, who favoured a pressing style of play.
Ten Hag arrived on a permanent basis in the summer of 2022, but it took months for his relationship with Ronaldo to turn sour.
The Portuguese superstar famously refused to come on from the benc during a 2-0 win over Tottenham in October 2022 and was subsequently dropped by Ten Hag for United’s next game against Chelsea.
But in a stunning report from ESPN, Ten Hag’s punishment for Ronaldo did not end there.
The report says Ten Hag directed Ronaldo to train away from the first team at the club’s Carrington complex.
Yet the exile didn’t stop there, as the report claims Ronaldo was prevented by staff from entering the first-team dressing room when he went to pick up a pair of shoes.
Ten Hag did not want Ronaldo anywhere near the first-teamAFP
It got to the point where Ronaldo had to ask an academy player to grab the shoes for him.
At that point, the report claimed ‘a number of senior players’ viewed Ten Hag’s ‘blanket ban as an unnecessary humiliation.’
Although Ronaldo’s frustration with the Dutchman was evident, he did not speak publicly about it until he let rip in an explosive interview with Piers Morgan in November 2022.
“The coach didn’t have respect for me,” Ronaldo said.
“So this is why the relationship, it’s in that way. He keeps saying in the press that he come to me, he like me blah, blah, blah, but that is only for the press, 100 per cent.
“If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never going to have respect for you.”
Ronaldo also stated Ten Hag, along with a handful of others, were trying to force him out of United at the time.
The Portuguese icon wasn’t the only star name Ten Hag fell out with.
Ten Hag’s management style wasn’t for everyone at Old TraffordGetty
Jadon Sancho, who moved to Old Trafford for £73m in July 2021, had a highly public dispute with Ten Hag.
It kicked off when Ten Hag left Sancho out of United’s squad for a fixture against Arsenal in September 2023 and later explained it was due to the winger’s performance level in training.
Sancho fired back on social media and said he ‘will not allow people saying things that are completely untrue’ and felt he’d been made a ‘scapegoat for a long time’.
Ten Hag wanted Sancho to publicly apologise for the outburst to remind him who was in charge, but it was not forthcoming.
Sancho was eventually given an exit route, albeit temporary, when he returned to Borussia Dortmund on a six-month loan last January.
Ten Hag demanded a public apology from Sancho but it never cameGetty
While the loan spell proved to be just what Sancho needed in terms of getting back to form, ESPN claimed the ‘situation increasingly became an embarrassment’ for United.
In fact, the report claims United representatives ‘sent messages to high-profile pundits’ to stop hyping up Sancho’s performances ‘because it reflected badly on the club’.
Despite putting himself in the shop window thanks to his impressive displays for Dortmund, no bids were immediately forthcoming for Sancho as he and Ten Hag shared an uneasy truce.
But Sancho eventually got his wish as he joined Chelsea on a season-long loan with an obligation to make the deal permanent for £25m.
Although Ten Hag faced a multitude of issues throughout his tenure at Old Trafford, some of which were out of his control, his public breakdowns with Ronaldo and Sancho no doubt contributed to his eventual axing.