Rio Ferdinand has urged Manchester United to release Cristiano Ronaldo from his contract if he is not in Erik ten Hag's plans.
United defeated Tottenham 2-0 on Wednesday with an excellent performance but Ronaldo's decision to walk down the tunnel before full-time is one of the major post-match talking points.
Ferdinand has moved to defend his former teammate's reaction and believes he should have been allowed to leave the club in the summer if he wasn't in the manager's plans. Ronaldo made his wish to depart Old Trafford clear in the transfer window but no suitors came forward.
Now Ferdinand thinks United must cancel his contract and allow Ronaldo to leave midway through the campaign if he isn't going to be a regular starter.
"That’s the only way that I see it, logically, that he did not play [last night]. I think Ronaldo will be absolutely fuming with that, naturally," Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel. "I wouldn’t expect anything different from him. I think the big problem Erik ten Hag has got is that, coming up to this next window, he has to think very carefully about what he does.
"If he doesn’t see Ronaldo as a starter in his team more often than not, I think he has to release him from his contract. He has to let him go. It’s not fair on anybody, on the club, on Ronaldo, on Ten Hag, that the first question after every game is ‘Why didn’t Ronaldo start?’
"That will be a story. United won 2-0 and the leading story will be about Ronaldo. That can’t be right. You sit here and think why did Man Utd not just let him go if Ten Hag knew he didn’t want Ronaldo in his plans. That’s the baffling thing for me.
"You think what he’s done in his career… at his level… surely the manager would have known before the season started if he was going to play Ronaldo or not, if he wanted him in his team, if he was someone to build around. It looks to me right now that it was a no. If that’s the case, he should have let Ronaldo go.
"It’s gong to be something that hampers Ten Hag going forward until the day Ronaldo leaves the club, because of how much of an icon and superstar he is."