(Football news) New Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has referred to Ronaldo’s behavior as “unacceptable” after the Portuguese footballer left the stadium during the match against Rayo Vallecano after being substituted at half-time. Diogo Dalot was also seen leaving the stadium but the right-back was not a part of the matchday squad, having featured against Atletico Madrid in Norway the day before. Ronaldo has already submitted a transfer request, looking for a move away from Manchester United in order to play Champions League football.

Speaking to Dutch media outlets AD and Viaplay, Erik ten Hag said “he was not the only one who left after half-time, I tell them [the players] that it's unacceptable. That we are a team, and that you need to stay right until the very end." Ronaldo did not feature in Manchester United’s pre-season tour to Thailand and Australia due to a transfer issue and joining training at Carrington last week while also holding talks with the Manchester United hierarchy about his future with agent Jorge Mendes present. 

Ten Hag has said that Ronaldo is a long way away from match fitness, having missed out on a number of training sessions already and Manchester United have reiterated that Ronaldo is not for sale and is a part of Ten Hag’s plan for the 2022/23 season. Ten Hag said “He is not on the level of the rest of the squad because he missed a lot of weeks, but he needs games and he needs training, a lot." There remains doubts about Ronaldo’s ability to adapt to Ten Hag’s style of play as the Dutch manager prefers players who can press high up the pitch and play in a modern system. 

Speaking about if Ronaldo can adapt to the new system, Ten Hag said “I think he can. It starts with him getting fit because he's only just started. He is a fantastic football player, and he has proved it so many times, but you are always judged on what you are presenting now and how you are performing now. So, the team and Cristiano himself has to prove it." When asked if he was frustrated at Manchester United’s transfer activity, the manager said “I’m not frustrated at all. First of all, we have a squad and we have already made progress. We are more proactive than we were at the start. 

“Second is the players who we have now signed. We are really happy with them. You can already see that they can contribute to the squad. The last thing is that we know what we want. It’s not about signing players; it’s about signing the right players. So, we are really planning it carefully and we are sticking to that and working hard to get the right players in to construct a good squad and a squad that can win games.”

Also read: Manchester United defender Alex Telles is set to join Sevilla on loan