Manchester United legend Roy Keane has criticised his former team for consistently benching Cristiano Ronaldo and showing disrespect to him.
The 37-year-old was unexpectedly benched for the entire 90 minutes of the Manchester derby on Sunday, despite his team’s poor 6-3 loss to fierce rival Manchester City.
The Portuguese striker has started just one of the past seven league games.
Keane believes Ronaldo should have played despite Anthony Martial’s two goals, who Erik ten Hag selected to come off the bench.
Roy Keane talked about this incident following Manchester United’s heartbreaking loss to Manchester City. While speaking to Sky Sports, he said:
“I think United are just showing disrespect to Ronaldo, he should’ve been let go before the end of the transfer window.”
“The manager said he’s holding onto him. Okay, you need options but you don’t keep hold of Ronaldo to sit on the bench. He’s one of the greatest players ever, this idea that he had no options – that’s rubbish.”
“Okay, Ronaldo’s motivated with the World Cup coming up but if he’s sitting on the bench for Man United week in, week out, it’s not good. It’s just going to get ugly. I think United have showed nothing but disrespect to Ronaldo and they should’ve let him go when he had the chance to go.”
During the previous transfer window, Ronaldo was linked to a number of elite clubs, including Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, and Saudi Arabian team Al-Hilal.
The former Juventus striker might try to make a move once more in January, when he will be free to sign a pre-contract deal with any prospective suitors.
Ten Hag may prefer to sign a new striker and let Ronaldo leave. Keeping him beyond the contract will not do any good for the player, and it may further worsen his condition at Old Trafford.
The legendary striker needs to join a club where he can play every weekend, and his legendary career deserves to end on a good note rather than warming the bench every weekend.
