Man United Crisis: Ronaldo Did Everything On Purpose – Jaap Stam

All parties are likely to acknowledge that they could have acted differently, according to Jaap Stam, who claims that Cristiano Ronaldo forced a Manchester United “on purpose.”

With an explosive interview with Piers Morgan in which he took aim at prominent members of the Red Devils’ past and present, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner saw a lucrative contract at Old Trafford torn up, allowing him to become a free agent, and this rendered his position with Premier League heavyweights untenable.

Ronaldo had already tried to leave once over the summer, but the transfer deadline passed without a deal being completed.

According to Stam, the Portuguese player knew exactly what he was doing at that point after seeing his playing time restricted by Erik ten Hag.

In an interview with Football Betting, former United defender Stam said of the ongoing Ronaldo controversy, “He did it on purpose.

Ronaldo exclusive interview with Piers Morga.
Credit: @piersmorgan

“In terms of “how are we going to organize this so that I may quit the club?” there was a plan behind it. You could see where it was heading from the start up until this point. Not participating, not being selected for the team, being substituted out, not being used, leaving the field, and then claiming that from United’s perspective as well, we talked about it and the debate over who is correct in each of these circumstances.

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“Everything that has been happening has been planned out so that you can leave the club.

“The next step was to give an interview and say certain things that is going to blow up and eventually you are going to be leaving. It’s not a good situation.

“I always questioned the way of working with him and how it started when he joined the club, how the conversations went with Ronaldo, then the decision making about not using him. And from Ronaldo as well, when he said ‘I want to leave and go somewhere else’, maybe they could have come to an agreement and parted ways at the beginning of the season. Then it kept dragging on and now with this interview, he knew by saying certain things and making comments about the manager and the club and the owners, they needed to let him go.”

When further questioned about whether Ronaldo had begun to feel bigger than the team, Stam, a member of United’s storied 1999 treble-winning team, added: “The club is the most important thing. He knows that, his agent knows that, everybody knows that. The thing is that everybody also knows that Ronaldo is a very good player and he still is a big player, a big name in the world of football, a big influence in everything he does with attention on him.

“He feels that he is still very important, was very important or could be very important for the club – which in a way I agree with – but the manager is making different decisions. How those things have been dealt with, I don’t think it’s been good. Maybe from the club, they could have done it a bit differently, but also from Ronaldo and his point of view, he should have known better and how to handle certain situations.

“If you are that experienced, have played so many games and won so many trophies – as an individual as well – both parties could have solved the situation better.”

Although there has been talk of interest from England, the USA, and Saudi Arabia, a decision on Ronaldo’s future is not expected to be made until after Qatar’s attempt to win another World Cup, despite Al-Nassr reportedly having made a sizable offer. Portugal is scheduled to play South Korea on Friday after already securing their place in the last 16.