Erik ten Hag says he is not concerned at Cristiano Ronaldo's ongoing absence from pre-season and a return to Manchester United.
Ronaldo missed United's pre-season tour for family reasons and has yet to return to Manchester to begin pre-season training, with their opener at home to Brighton just 16 days away. United's squad returned for pre-season training three weeks ago, with Ten Hag and his players having been in Thailand and Australia on their summer tour, which ends tomorrow in Perth against Aston Villa.
Ten Hag said he had no update on Ronaldo's return date but said he was not worried that the 37-year-old will miss the start of the season, because he will not be at the same fitness level as the rest of the squad. Asked when Ronaldo was returning and how concerned he was at his lack of pre-season, ten Hag said: “No, it's the same as last week.”
Ten Hag was asked if he was concerned at Ronaldo's lack of fitness and availability for the start of the season, the longer he is absent from pre-season. “Of course,” said ten Hag. “But concerned is maybe not the right word.
“I focus on the players who are there, they are doing really well, they are in good shape. I prefer to focus on that and develop that. I cannot wait for him to come in, then we will integrate him.”
Ten Hag's focus throughout United's two-and-a-half week tour has been getting his players in peak condition and ensuring they buy into the way he wants to play. Reflecting on the tour of Thailand and Australia, ten Hag said: “It's part of football nowadays.
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“You have to accept it as a manager, as a team, and you have to take the best out of it, and that is what we did. I think it’s great for team spirit to be together for so long together, you can really improve that, develop that, you have a lot of time to work on your team, because you are so close together. That is great, I would say.
“It’s brilliant to be in great cities like Bangkok, Melbourne, Perth. There are disadvantages, it is clear, but you have to deal with certain things that are decided when you don’t have influence. When you have influence it’s only on the game – that is our focus point.”
Ahead of tomorrow's game against Aston Villa in Perth, ten Hag said: “We have the intention to play brilliant football, but there is only one thing, we have an opponent every time – and they don’t cooperate. So first it’s about our philosophy - we want to play pro-active football, attacking football.”
