Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has slammed Manchester United fans for accusing Cristiano Ronaldo of intentionally missing pre-season to engineer a move away from Manchester United.
Ronaldo rejoined Manchester United last summer for £ 20 million from Juventus. The 37-year-old was voted Manchester United player of the season after an impressive season scoring 24 goals in 39 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions. He was also the third top scorer in the Premier League with 18 goals.
There are reports that Cristiano Ronaldo has been told to leave the old Trafford. His agent Jorge Mendes has held talks with Chelsea’s acting Chairman, interim sporting director, and co-owner Toddy Boehly over a possible move to Chelsea.
Jorge Mendes has also held talks with Barcelona president Joan Laporta.
There are also reports that Bayern Munich is monitoring Cristiano Ronaldo’s situation following Robert Lewandowski’s expressing his desire to leave the club.
Cristiano Ronaldo was expected to join his teammates for pre-season on Monday but did not show up citing family problems as the reason for his absence.
There are sections of Manchester United fans has criticized the 37-year-old for missing pre-season to engineer a move from Manchester United amid transfer speculation. However, Rio Ferdinand believes Ronaldo’s reasons for his absence should be respected.
What did Rio Ferdinand say about Ronaldo missing pre-season?
The former Manchester United and England defender said on his YouTube channel Vibe with Five, He said: “ ‘I’ve been seeing people being a touch disrespectful.
“The way that people are questioning ‘he’s not here and the hysteria surrounding it. A member of his family is not well, so he’s not at training.
“This is the most consummate, most professional athlete that we’ve seen on these shores. The most professional athlete we’ve seen for over 15 years and people are questioning this guy’s professionalism and why he’s not at the training ground.
“Yeah he might want to leave, he might not be happy with certain things at the football club, but in terms of professionalism, this guy is training where he is – we’ve seen the pictures. His family is there, he needs to be where they are and you have to respect that. Simple as. Could it have been communicated better by the club? Probably.”
Rio Ferdinand added him not shocked Cristiano Ronaldo is not impressed following Manchester United’s poor season.
The Manchester United legend added: “Of course, he’s not happy.
“You’re talking about Cristiano Ronaldo here! I don’t understand how it’s a big story that Cristiano Ronaldo is not happy with the way things are at Man United. He can’t be. I wouldn’t be.
“Anyone who wants to win football matches or trophies, anyone who is used to winning and competing every year at the top of the table for the biggest prizes, and then all of a sudden isn’t, and doesn’t even qualify for the Champions League, you can’t sit here and expect them to be happy.
“He’s not happy with missing out on the Champions League, he doesn’t even know what the Europa League soundtrack sounds like. When that comes on, he’s going to be thinking, ‘what dance am I in here?”
Rio Ferdinand continued:” He will be sitting there on his sun lounger, on his yacht, on his jet.
“Wherever he is in the world and seeing Man City signing Haaland. Seeing Liverpool signing [Darwin] Nunez among other players. [Kalvin] Phillips has gone to City as well.
“He’ll be sitting there thinking, ‘we had work to do to catch these guys anyway before these big signings and now they’re jumping even further away from us’. Arsenal are making moves, he’ll be thinking, ‘when is my team going to start making moves?’. We all know we need some new faces in that building. He hasn’t seen any movement.
“I understand the frustrations. I definitely would be frustrated. I as a player was on to the manager, on to David Gill [asking] who we are signing. That’s the way I was. I’m sure that’s what Cristiano is like and other players will be like that as well. He’s the biggest name but he won’t be the only one who’s disgruntled with the way things are.
“We’re slow out of the blocks in the transfer market. There will have been worked going on behind the scenes at Man United but we’re all human, we’re all impatient and we all want it done.”
