Erik Ten Hag Speaks On His Desire To Keep Cristiano Ronaldo At Manchester United

Cristiano Ronaldo has been a hot topic of discussion since his Premier League return to Manchester United from Juventus for a reported £12.8m fee last summer.

He will finish this season as the club’s top scorer, with 24 goals so far; 14 more than second-placed Bruno Fernandes.

Many fans debate whether Ronaldo has been a net-positive signing for United, considering that you have to sacrifice certain styles of play in different areas of the pitch to accommodate the man who has scored 813 career goals across his time playing for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Portugal.

Since Manchester United announced the appointment of Erik ten Hag as the club’s new manager, a lot of this talk has shifted into would the Dutchman want Cristiano Ronaldo in his team.

Though, the former Ajax manager has made his feelings on the topic clear.

Speaking on Cristiano Ronaldo to Parool, Ten Hag said: “He is a giant that is still very ambitious. Of course I want to keep him at Manchester United.

"He was important for them again this year, his stats are great."

In an interview with Mike Verweij from De Telegraaf, with translation from TheEuropeanLad, Erik ten Hag reinforced this notion.

He emphasised: “I look forward to working with Ronaldo. Ronaldo is a giant, because of everything he has shown so far and because of how ambitious he is,

"I want to keep him at Manchester United, of course. He has been very important for this club and can produce great stats.”

In this interview, he also confirmed the news that Manchester United was not the only club who was courting his services.

“I had choices to work at a different club than Manchester United, with a better foundation,” he revealed. “But I chose Manchester United.

"Things have to get addressed there and that’s a challenge. The club and me are on the same wavelength about how I want to do this."

Erik ten Hag is set to start working as Manchester United manager once pre-season commences on June 27th.