Cristiano Ronaldo failing in late, desperate attempt for relevance at Ten Hag’s Man Utd

Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t need to burn his bridges at Man Utd and the only lasting damage was done to his legacy. For Erik ten Hag, it’s little more than a minor inconvenience…

That Cristiano Ronaldo interview hasn’t even aired yet, but already the fall-out is beginning to clear. So what now?

Presumably Piers Morgan asked the Portuguese megastar that very question because the rest of us would love to know the answer. For Manchester United, it is already clear. Nothing changes. It’s business as usual. Which risks triggering Ronaldo even more. The last thing he wants is to be irrelevant.

Like a spoiled child, a brat used to having his every whim indulged, Ronaldo will be incandescent when his latest act of petulance passes without gaining the attention it craved. The 37-year-old has tried to hog the spotlight in recent months with a series of hissy fits, some of them an instinctive reflex upon being cast in the shadows of others, but this latest subordination wasn’t spontaneous. Sitting down with Morgan was a calculated move. We just can’t fathom what he hoped to achieve.

The end game is, presumably, a move away from Old Trafford, but that was on the cards anyway. United have sussed that they don’t need him on the pitch and, despite all that lovely engagement, they can certainly live without his presence off it too.

Ronaldo remained at United against his will during the summer, but that was less about the Red Devils and more a consequence of no other club, none befitting his majesty anyway, being prepared to offer him an escape route. When he wanted out in 2008, he pulled the slave bullsh*t. This time, he was oddly quiet when a queue failed to form of credible clubs dying to fall at his feet.

Actions – like twice walking away from matches before their end – spoke louder than words until he could keep quiet no longer. But speaking up is unlikely to have done him or Jorge Mendes any favours. As January approaches, if any chairman was tempted to smash their wage structure and risk whatever harmony exists in their dressing-room, they will almost certainly think again after seeing Ronaldo pour petrol over his bridges and toss a match over his shoulder.

The only thing ablaze, however, is his legacy. And even that will be largely restored with the mere passing of time. United, and Erik ten Hag’s dressing room, ought not to be touched by Ronaldo’s arson.

With this timing, Ronaldo has set out his intention to never set foot back inside Old…