Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly been left ‘baffled’ by the attitude of his Manchester United teammates towards training.
Ronaldo this week spoke on Manchester United’s disappointing performances so far this season, calling on the squad to improve their ‘mentality’ as the Red Devils look to improve over the second half of the campaign.
United had been tipped as potential title challengers following the arrivals of Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane last summer, but have failed to keep pace with the Premier League’s leading sides and are seventh at present.
Ronaldo is said to regularly stay behind after training to work on his fitness in the gym, and the Mail say that the veteran is ‘baffled’ that his teammates do not do the same, the forward having ‘complained privately’ that he is the only player to put in extra work before and after training.
The Portugal captain also suggested that the younger members of the dressing room are not open to advice and constructive criticism from the club’s senior professionals.
“The mature players, the older players can always help the young players,” Ronaldo told Premier League Productions. “But, I can give you an example, if I give you advice, even if you are younger than me and if you don’t implant that in a daily life it will be difficult.
“I remember when I was 18, 19, 20, some old players speak with me and I put that as, ‘Cristiano, you know you have to improve. They know more than you, they are more experienced than you’. They passed through many bad moments.
“But the other people (youngsters), they don’t accept that if you criticise them. I don’t say this in relation to our players but in general. I have kids, I know. Sometimes when you’re a little bit harder, they do the opposite, you have to find the right balance to speak with them.”
United progressed to the FA Cup’s fourth round despite an unconvincing win over Aston Villa on Monday evening and face the same opposition in the Premier League this weekend.
