Now that all the controversy regarding Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Old Trafford before the end of a Manchester United match seems to have been overcome, we get to see players speaking about it.
Red Devils midfielder Fred this week gave a long interview to TNT Sports, and a few questions from reporter Fred Caldeira were about what happened with the Portuguese star.
Fred started by claiming he did not see what happened, since he was still on the pitch.
“Dude, I didn’t. I was on the pitch there. You end up getting focused, you don’t even see it. Turned out I saw it later on the news. I was even surprised when I saw it, but it happens,” Fred told TNT Sports.
With the situation dealt with by Erik ten Hag, Fred was asked if that worked as a message for the squad.
“Dude, it’s hard. Everyone deals in some way. It’s obvious that everyone wants to be on the pitch, they want to play to help the team. So when you end up not playing, you get frustrated. This is normal, it has happened to him, it has happened to me, to someone else. I think that’s part of football.
“But I think it stayed there, we talked there, they had their conversation, he and Ten Hag. The important thing is that everything is ok. He scored again too, which is important, I hope he can keep scoring and have a great season at United.”
Regarding being ‘easier’ for Manchester United to achieve their objectives with Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch, Fred agreed with it.
“Absolutely. Everyone knows about Cristiano’s quality and ability… one of the best players in the history of football. So you can’t dismiss Cristiano anyway. A very important player both on and off the pitch. Of course, age also matters a bit. This is normal. Everyone gets to age, it weighs, it gets a little more difficult. But we know the quality and ability he has, to be able to decide a match. So very happy to have him by our side and I hope he comes back and stays 100% too.”
In that same interview, Fred also revealed that he knew about Casemiro’s transfer to Manchester United way before it happened. Even though the Red Devils only signed the midfielder from Real Madrid in the final weeks of the transfer window, he said he knew about the transfer ‘months’ before, as they’d been speaking about it. You can check those quotes here.
