Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo will have a new manager next season. And that’s set to be Erik ten Hag, with the Dutchman giving his word he’ll take over from Ralf Rangnick at Old Trafford come the summer. The duo have previously met twice, back when Juventus locked horns with Ajax back in 2019.
Manchester United have been looking for a new permanent boss ever since sacking Ole Gunnar Solskjaer back in November.
And Ten Hag has now verbally agreed to take over at Old Trafford, with the 52-year-old the club’s chosen candidate over Mauricio Pochettino, Julen Lopetegui and Luis Enrique.
Should he take over, the Ajax boss will be manager of Ronaldo next term.
He’ll be charged with the task of getting the 37-year-old back to the superhero he used to be, with the veteran showing signs of waning as he approaches the twilight years of his career.
So, with that being the case, Express Sport will now take a look at the two times they’ve met in the past.
In 2019, Ajax and Juventus met in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
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But Ajax came roaring back to rock the Old Lady in their own backyard.
Donny van de Beek cancelled out Ronaldo’s effort in the 34th minute, with the midfielder operating at the peak of his powers at the time.
And Matthijs de Ligt then netted the winner against Juventus before joining the Italian titans a few months later.
Ten Hag would go on to guide Ajax to within touching distance on the final.
But they were unable to play in the showpiece event, with Tottenham going through instead in dramatic circumstances.
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Now, Ronaldo and Ten Hag are primed to go from enemies to allies at Old Trafford next season.
United will want the pair to get along as they look to reel in the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, who are too far ahead at the current moment in time.
And whether this alliance triggers a turnaround in fortunates for United is something only time will tell.
Meanwhile, speaking recently, talkSPORT’s Gabriel Agbonlahor called on United to assure Ten Hag he can drop Ronaldo whenever he wants.
“If they do sign Ten Hag then they have to give him the assurances that he wants,” said the former Aston Villa striker.
“If he doesn’t want to play Ronaldo, he doesn’t have to play him.
“Don’t say that ‘you have to play Ronaldo, the shirt sales, endorsements, we have to play him’ – no.
“If he wants to completely bomb Ronaldo, completely bomb Fernandes, completely bomb anyone he wants, that’s his assurances he needs to play the way he wants to with his set of players.
“He might want to go younger, he might want to go [Marcus] Rashford through the middle, [Jadon] Sancho, [Anthony] Elanga. He’s got have that option.
“One hundred per cent, he can’t have a little bit of power, he has to have all of it.”
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