If Manchester United is broken, then Cristiano Ronaldo thinks that he has the keys to fix it.
The Portuguese forward, who had two spells at United before leaving for the final time two years ago, has said that the club must “rebuild everything” in order to return to its past glories.
Speaking on the “Rio Ferdinand Presents” podcast, Ronaldo told his former teammate that the mentality of the coaches and manager Erik ten Hag is holding back the current team.
“The coaches, they say they cannot compete to win the league and the Champions League,” he said. “If you’re a Manchester United coach, you cannot say that, that you’re not going to fight to win the league or the Champions League. You have to mentally say, listen, maybe we don’t have that potential … but we’re going to try, you have to try.”
United won the most recent of its 13 Premier League titles under Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, but the club has struggled under a string of different managers since then.
With Dutchman ten Hag in charge, United finished eighth in the league last season, its worst Premier League finish in history, but did defeat rival Manchester City to win the FA Cup in May.The beginning of this season has been underwhelming, with a 1-0 victory against Fulham followed by defeats against Brighton and Liverpool.
“This club needs time to rebuild,” said Ronaldo. “It is still one of the best clubs in the world, but they need to change. They understand that it’s the only way.
“I believe that the future will be bright, but they [can’t] depend only on the talents, it’s more than that,” he added. “It’s all the club, not only players, everything as a unit, united.
“They have to rebuild from the bottom; if not, they cannot compete, it will be impossible. They can do good things. Yes, they can win Carabao (Cup) … but the Champions League or Europa League or Premier League (will be) difficult, in my opinion. I wish that I’m wrong, but it will be difficult.”
The 39-year-old departed United in acrimonious fashion in 2022 having given an explosive interview with Piers Morgan for TalkTV, explaining how he felt betrayed by the club. He also said that he had no respect for ten Hag.Ronaldo was largely used as a substitute by the manager and refused to go onto the pitch against Tottenham Hotspur during his final weeks with the Red Devils, instead walking down the tunnel with minutes of the match still remaining.
Now playing for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo said that he still loves United and wants to see the club succeed.
He told Ferdinand that the recent addition of former striker Ruud van Nistelrooy to the coaching staff will “help a lot.” The Dutchman spent five years at United, scoring 150 goals in 219 appearances.
“You cannot rebuild a club without knowledge,” said Ronaldo. “Not guys who work in offices, (who say), ‘I understand a lot of football because I see football on the television every day.’ It doesn’t work like that.
“The people who understand football 99% is the people who were there, in the dressing room, who were players.”
Ronaldo scored the 900th goal of his career while playing for Portugal against Croatia last week, then also netted against Scotland several days later.
He scored 145 goals while playing for United, transforming himself from a talented winger to a prolific goalscorer during his first stint at the club, before making the then biggest transfer in football history to Real Madrid.
