During a Manchester United training session, Cristiano Ronaldo disagreed with Erik ten Hag’s strategy.

Cristiano Ronaldo is threatening to become a major problem for Manchester United with the veteran forward attempting to argue with Erik ten Hag’s tactics, according to reports.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has made it clear that he wants to leave Old Trafford this summer so he can continue playing in the Champions League, though he has received significantly less interest than he was expecting while United do not want to sell their top scorer from last season.

Ronaldo was given permission to miss the club’s pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia for ‘family reasons’ and was only fit enough for a place on the bench in their season opener against Brighton.

He returned to the starting XI in Saturday’s 4-0 mauling by Brentford but cut a dejected and frustrated figure throughout, while he refused assistant coach Steve McClaren’s request to acknowledge United’s away fans after the game.

There have been reports that Ronaldo’s sulking is starting to affect the rest of the team, with many players feeling it would be better if the Portuguese superstar just left the club.

Now The Athletic claim the wantaway 37-year-old’s mood and behaviour is becoming so openly rebellious that he has tried to argue against Ten Hag’s high-pressing tactics in training.

The Dutch manager’s style of play hinges on having a dynamic and hard-working attack but pressing from the front and closing down is not something Ronaldo is particularly known for or enjoys – even when he was in his prime.

Ronaldo and Ten Hag seemed to disagree in a friendly

Indeed, he was criticised for his lack of work rate at times last season despite leading the club’s scoring charts and looked a poor fit for interim manager Ralf Rangnick’s system – who also tried to engage the opposition high up the pitch.

But Ronaldo has been seen ‘flapping his arms about’ in training and poo-pooing the high-pressing Ten Hag is trying to coach into his players.

The former Real Madrid star is reportedly becoming so isolated and distant from the rest of the squad that there have been times when he eats lunch alone at Carrington even though Ten Hag has tried to get the players to eat altogether.

Despite his clear unhappiness with being forced to remain at United, Ronaldo did report to training on Sunday after Ten Hag cancelled his squad’s scheduled day off and took part in all the running drills forced onto the team as instructed.

Ten Hag has previously rejected suggestions that Ronaldo is unhappy or causing issues in training, saying last week: ‘That is your assumption [that Ronaldo wishes to depart].

‘That is not what he is telling me. So I deal with the players we have and we plan with him for this season and we have to fit him into the team so he has to come at the right fitness levels so that he can do the job that we expect him to do.’

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