Zlatan Ibrahimovic thinks fans will never know the 'true story' behind Cristiano Ronaldo's acrimonious exit from Manchester United.
Ronaldo gave a bombshell interview to Piers Morgan last month where he criticised the club and revealed he has 'no respect' for manager Erik ten Hag, leading to his contract being terminated by mutual consent.
Ten Hag recently hit back at Ronaldo, insisting that the forward never told him to his face that he wanted to leave United. Despite Ronaldo and Ten Hag airing their views, Ibrahimovic still feels both men haven't been completely honest, making it hard to form an opinion on the situation.
'His exiting United, I think when things happen, we will never know the true story,' Ibrahimovic told reporters in Dubai.
'They say what they want to say, he says what he needs to say to protect himself, then you have the coach that says these things to protect himself.'
'Then the club says things – not like me, I will tell you how it really happened. But we are all different. Everybody is careful about their image.
'For me the perfect image is being yourself. The true story we will not know my friend.'
Ten Hag appears to have already moved on from Ronaldo's departure, and has confirmed that United will look to bring in a replacement next month.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo is looking for his next club having been linked with a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia side Al Nassr.
For now, he remains without a team, and it has been a difficult month for the 37-year-old, culminating with Portugal being knocked out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage by Morocco.
Ronaldo was dropped to the bench for Portugal's final two matches in Qatar, and was unable to inspire a comeback when he came on against Morocco.
As the final whistle blew, Ronaldo headed straight down the tunnel in floods of tears while his team-mates stayed on the pitch to acknowledge their travelling fans.
Ibrahimovic does not blame Ronaldo for getting 'emotional' in what is likely to be his last World Cup, and believes it was a natural reaction to a bitterly disappointing moment for the player and his nation.
'Everybody wants to win the World Cup; not everybody gets to win the World Cup,' he said.
'Everybody is trying and if you don’t win it obviously you’ll get emotional, if you win it, you get also emotional in a different way.'
Amgnonijunior
309
Welcome to the world where people will forget all the good things you did for them, just because of little misunderstanding. We will stand with you no matter the situation because you're our G.O.A.T 😎❤️🐐
FootballKingCR7
46
I think Eric Ten Han is fully responsible for Ronaldo's situation now. . Here's why. Keeping reading if you want to know the truth. . Ronaldo was in superb individual form, although average by his standards, just last season. After the season ended, Ronaldo publically made his intentions to remain at Manchester United clear. When the club appointed Eric to lead the squad, Ronaldo also publically called for his teammmate's support toward their new coach. Eric however was looking to make a legacy for himself by turning things around for the club. He was too ambitious in this pursuit and the last thing he needed was for a megastar like Ronaldo who had greater influence in the squad. I believed what happened was Eric asked the club to sell Ronaldo as soon as the season ended but the executives would not allow this. There is an interview that someone mentions this. The club had invested a lot of money on Ronaldo and they wanted at least one more season to get back some more commercial returns from Ronaldo's sponsorships, jersey sales, social media impacts and so forth. This did not go down well with Ronaldo when he found out and went ahead to find his exit - and caused the media circus that followed. When preseason season started, Ronaldo as he later revealed could not return immediately due to his new baby's illness. With all the media attacks on Ronaldo wanting to leave, this didn't reflect well with the club management and they dubbed Ronaldo's refusal to return unethical. This gave even more reason for Eric's plans to drop Ronaldo. Eric said it was because Ronaldo had not trained with the team in preseason, but the coach didn't stick by his principles when he started Antony who also did not take part in Manchester United's preseason. Things got worse as Ronaldo sat out on the bench, unable to maintain his form from the previous season because of his limited gametime. Everyone was looking forward for the World Cup, so their current form was vital to their preparations. Ronaldo had never sat out on the bench as much as Eric made him do from the time he became a starter way back in his first stint for Manchester United, so this really did take a toll on him. Anyone who has followed Ronaldo long enough will know that the Portugese's best form comes from the mid season and onwards and always ends on a high note by the end of the season. A perfect exaample of his acceleration was during his first season at Juventus. Ronaldo struggled to score for about five games while starting, but as soon as he found his scoring rhythm with consistent game time, he ended up being top scorer. This benefited both him and the club. Eric refused Ronaldo that opportunity all throughout the first half of the season. Ronaldo went into the World Cup without his scoring rhythm and thus feels that Eric is part responsible. . Lile I said, Eric is too ambitious in his pursuit to make a legacy of his own and return Manchester United to its winning ways that he would not let Ronaldo get in his way. If the club wanted to hold on to Ronaldo for another season, Eric should've stuck with Ronaldo in his first choice squad and worked on the players that were really the problem. I can bet on my life that Ronaldo would've excelled had he be given enough gametime. Last season's statistics is testament that Ronaldo was never the problem for Manchester United, but sadly Eric saw Ronaldo as the problem. . No matter how much progress Eric puts into the Manchester United club, the legacy people will remember him for is how he put Ronaldo in his lowest point of a glittering career. . I have faith that Ronaldo will make a comeback to the top of world football because he is not normal to any other player that we have seen. People say he is old, but they've been saying this 7 years ago, and has ALWAYS proved everyone wrong. He will come back stronger than before.
atyvraj
8
I think Eric Ten Han is fully responsible for Ronaldo's situation now. . Here's why. Keeping reading if you want to know the truth. . Ronaldo was in superb individual form, although average by his standards, just last season. After the season ended, Ronaldo publically made his intentions to remain at Manchester United clear. When the club appointed Eric to lead the squad, Ronaldo also publically called for his teammmate's support toward their new coach. Eric however was looking to make a legacy for himself by turning things around for the club. He was too ambitious in this pursuit and the last thing he needed was for a megastar like Ronaldo who had greater influence in the squad. I believed what happened was Eric asked the club to sell Ronaldo as soon as the season ended but the executives would not allow this. There is an interview that someone mentions this. The club had invested a lot of money on Ronaldo and they wanted at least one more season to get back some more commercial returns from Ronaldo's sponsorships, jersey sales, social media impacts and so forth. This did not go down well with Ronaldo when he found out and went ahead to find his exit - and caused the media circus that followed. When preseason season started, Ronaldo as he later revealed could not return immediately due to his new baby's illness. With all the media attacks on Ronaldo wanting to leave, this didn't reflect well with the club management and they dubbed Ronaldo's refusal to return unethical. This gave even more reason for Eric's plans to drop Ronaldo. Eric said it was because Ronaldo had not trained with the team in preseason, but the coach didn't stick by his principles when he started Antony who also did not take part in Manchester United's preseason. Things got worse as Ronaldo sat out on the bench, unable to maintain his form from the previous season because of his limited gametime. Everyone was looking forward for the World Cup, so their current form was vital to their preparations. Ronaldo had never sat out on the bench as much as Eric made him do from the time he became a starter way back in his first stint for Manchester United, so this really did take a toll on him. Anyone who has followed Ronaldo long enough will know that the Portugese's best form comes from the mid season and onwards and always ends on a high note by the end of the season. A perfect exaample of his acceleration was during his first season at Juventus. Ronaldo struggled to score for about five games while starting, but as soon as he found his scoring rhythm with consistent game time, he ended up being top scorer. This benefited both him and the club. Eric refused Ronaldo that opportunity all throughout the first half of the season. Ronaldo went into the World Cup without his scoring rhythm and thus feels that Eric is part responsible. . Lile I said, Eric is too ambitious in his pursuit to make a legacy of his own and return Manchester United to its winning ways that he would not let Ronaldo get in his way. If the club wanted to hold on to Ronaldo for another season, Eric should've stuck with Ronaldo in his first choice squad and worked on the players that were really the problem. I can bet on my life that Ronaldo would've excelled had he be given enough gametime. Last season's statistics is testament that Ronaldo was never the problem for Manchester United, but sadly Eric saw Ronaldo as the problem. . No matter how much progress Eric puts into the Manchester United club, the legacy people will remember him for is how he put Ronaldo in his lowest point of a glittering career. . I have faith that Ronaldo will make a comeback to the top of world football because he is not normal to any other player that we have seen. People say he is old, but they've been saying this 7 years ago, and has ALWAYS proved everyone wrong. He will come back stronger than before.
nice story... keep reading yourself...you lost the plot when you said Ronaldo publicly made intentions to continue at MU...is it a joke? when almost all clubs rejected him openly only then Ronaldo told Them Hag that he wants to continue otherwise it is an open secret that he wanted to escape to a team which plays champion League