Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag told Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire that they had been dropped in front of all their team-mates, according to reports.
The Red Devils lost their first two Premier League matches to Brighton and Brentford with the result against the latter an embarrassing 4-0 defeat.
But without Ronaldo, Maguire, Luke Shaw and Fred in the starting line-up against Liverpool, Ten Hag’s side produced a much-improved performance to beat last season’s Premier League runners up.
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Ronaldo asked the Man Utd hierarchy earlier in the summer transfer window if he could leave the club if any acceptable offers come in for the striker but the board rejected his request at the time.
Claims have been made since that the Red Devils have made a U-turn and are now prepared to let him leave if the right deal comes along.
And The Sun claim that in the lead up to the game against Liverpool, Ronaldo and Maguire were ‘brutally axed in front of the whole Manchester United squad during a two-hour summit meeting’.
Ten Hag told his players to ‘air any grievances without the threat of repercussions’ during the meeting last Thursday with the Dutchman also announcing that Ronaldo and Maguire would not be playing against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Man Utd boss Ten Hag is ‘sick of the Ronaldo circus’ and ‘was particularly angry last week after the Portuguese superstar promised he would soon deliver a tell-all interview’.
Maguire has been poor over the last season or two and former Man Utd goalkeeper Ben Foster reckons Ten Hag made the right call to take Maguire out of the “firing line”.
Foster told talkSPORT: “It’s important at that point, you’ve just got to pull them out of the firing line. It’s just one thing after another. The best thing to do… it’s almost like a dying dog, just put them out of their misery for a little bit.
“Best thing to do is take him out of the team, take him out of the spotlight, whether it’s just one game or even if it’s just for four or five games. It could be a month or six weeks, but you’ve just got take him out the firing line.
“I felt a little bit for some of the lads who missed out the other night – the likes of Ronaldo and Maguire. The lads put that performance in and straight away every one goes, ‘See, as soon as you take the dead wood out or the players who haven’t been performing out,…
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