Manchester United have revealed they are taking “appropriate steps” in response to Cristiano Ronaldo‘s bombshell interview with Piers Morgan.
United’s statement was released on Friday, after the final excerpt of the interview aired on TalkTV on Thursday night.
Ronaldo said he felt “provoked” by manager Erik ten Hag after he refused to come on last month against Tottenham and left Old Trafford before the full-time whistle.
The 37-year-old also said he believes Ten Hag “does not respect” him in the way he “deserves”.
Details of the interview first emerged when The Sun published quotes on Sunday evening, after which United said they would consider their response “after the full facts have been established”.
The complete interview was aired in two parts on Wednesday and Thursday and the club have now issued a short statement.
“Manchester United has this morning initiated appropriate steps in response to Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent media interview,” the club said on Friday.
“We will not be making further comment until this process reaches its conclusion.”
In part two of the interview with Morgan, Ronaldo also revealed he rejected a €350m (£305m) offer to play in Saudi Arabia this summer and claimed he had “many offers” to leave United.
In clips previously aired this week from the same interview, Ronaldo disclosed he was “close” to moving to Manchester City last summer, before Sir Alex Ferguson intervened, and was particularly critical of the Ralf Rangnick era as well as the club’s crop of young players.