British media believe that Cristiano Ronaldo, while at Manchester United, may have been angry with coach Erik ten Hag because the Dutch strategist imposed a ban on wearing earrings.

Ronaldo left Manchester United in November 2022 after a controversial interview with journalist Piers Morgan, where the 39-year-old striker accused coach Ten Hag of disrespecting him when selecting the starting lineup.

Two months later, the former Real Madrid and Juventus player moved to Saudi Arabia to join Al-Nassr, where he continued his impressive scoring streak. Ronaldo has now scored 68 goals in 75 games for Al-Nassr, but many Manchester United fans still haven’t forgotten what happened when he left.

British media recently published a lot of information showing that the Portuguese striker had a conflict with coach Ten Hag not long after the Dutch strategist was appointed to the hot seat at Old Trafford in 2022.

According to the Manchester Evening News, the argument broke out between the two because Ronaldo liked to wear earrings, while Ten Hag wanted to ban players from wearing jewelry during training and matches. The former Ajax coach then asked Ronaldo to remove the earrings.

The Portuguese striker was “irritated”, dissatisfied and refused to follow the coach’s request. Previously, under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick, he wore earrings.

The situation became tense when coach Ten Hag felt his request was being ignored by his players, so he asked assistant Steve McClaren to intervene. Ronaldo threw a tantrum, throwing a pair of earrings worth more than £1,000 (equivalent to about 32.5 million VND) into the bushes.

Relations between the two sides have not improved. Despite being a world-class star and scoring 24 goals last season, the former Old Trafford legend has been unable to play. He agreed to an interview with Piers Morgan and decided to leave shortly afterwards.

Cristiano Ronaldo has continued to criticize Ten Hag recently. In an interview with former teammate Rio Ferdinand, the Portuguese striker said that the Manchester United coach’s admission that he could not compete in the Premier League and Champions League was unacceptable.

“Manchester United need to rebuild everything. The manager said the team cannot win the Premier League and the Champions League. As the manager of Manchester United, you cannot say that the team will not try to win the Premier League or the Champions League,” Ronaldo said.

“The club needs time to rebuild, they are still one of the top teams in the world, but they need to change. They themselves understand that,” he added.