Man Utd players 'felt Ten Hag took punishment of Ronaldo and Sancho TOO FAR'

Senior Manchester United players felt Erik ten Hag went too far with his punishments for Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho, according to reports.

Ten Hag was sacked by United on Monday after a little over two years at the club following a dismal start to the season.

His time at Old Trafford was littered with disagreements with players, including Ronaldo when he was just months into his new job.

Ten Hag and Ronaldo fell out in October 2022 when the Portuguese superstar refused to come on as a late substitute against Tottenham. Ronaldo was banished from first team training in a move that was initially supported by the United squad.

However, things turned when Ronaldo was prevented from getting back into the dressing room to retrieve a pair of trainers and had to get an academy player to pick them up for him, with some senior stars believing the outright ban on using first team facilities amounted to an 'unnecessary humiliation', as reported by ESPN.

Just days later, Ronaldo conducted a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan where he accused Ten Hag of disrespecting him.

Ronaldo's United contract was subsequently terminated by mutual consent as he left the club for the second time to join Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Nassr.

But that was not the only public fall-out that involved Ten Hag during his time at United.

The following season, Ten Hag had a bust-up with Sancho after leaving the winger out of his squad for a 3-1 defeat by Arsenal due to his 'performance in training'.

Sancho hit back on social media, accusing his manager of making him a 'scapegoat', and Ten Hag responded by exiling the England international from his squad.

Sancho was forced to train, eat and change on his own, and refused to apologise to Ten Hag despite encouragement from his team-mates to do so.

As the stalemate continued, it is understood that some players felt Ten Hag was being too harsh on Sancho, and that ordering him to apologise in public was an unnecessary demand.

With no olive branch in sight, Sancho was loaned out to former club Borussia Dortmund in January 2024 for the rest of the season.

He flourished on his return to Germany, helping Dortmund reach the Champions League final as he delivered a man of the match display in their semi final first leg victory over PSG.

Following that performance, ESPN states United representatives reached out to high-profile pundits to tell them to stop talking so positively about Sancho as it would put United in a bad light.

Sancho returned to Carrington in the summer, and with no club willing to match United's asking price for the 24-year-old he was brought back into the first team squad after reaching a truce with Ten Hag.

Ten Hag was not comfortable with bringing Sancho back into the fold, though, as he wondered whether his authority would be questioned, and this led to Sancho being loaned out to Chelsea on deadline day in August.

Chelsea will have an obligation to buy Sancho for £23m next summer, which represents a £50m loss for United after they bought him for £73m in 2021.

Sancho has also started well at Chelsea, registering three assists in his first five league appearances, while Ten Hag is now back in the Netherlands after being put out of his misery at United.