London: Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag held talks with beleaguered striker Cristiano Ronaldo at Carrington on Tuesday and the talismanic Portuguese star returned to training with the first-team squad afterward.
Ronaldo was dropped for United’s 1-1 draw at Chelsea and made to train away from the squad after refusing to come on in last Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Tottenham at Old Trafford.
But after the talks with Ten Hag, Ronaldo resumed training with the first-team group and is in contention to start in Thursday’s Europa League tie against Sheriff Tiraspol at Old Trafford.
According to a report in mirror.co.uk, Ten Hag and Ronaldo had been in constant dialogue since the decision was taken to drop the forward for the Chelsea game and exclude him from training for three days.
Ten Hag made it clear he would not tolerate Ronaldo’s public show of dissent and decided to make an example of United’s most high-profile player, to show such conduct cannot be tolerated.
On Tuesday, Manchester United said in a statement that Ronaldo has returned to training with the first team.
“Cristiano Ronaldo also returned to group training, after missing Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Harry Maguire, Donny van de Beek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka all joined the group as they continue their recoveries from injury,” the club said in a release.
Maguire hasn’t featured in a match since a mid-September 2-0 victory over Sheriff in Chisinau, with a thigh problem, picked up while playing for England, keeping him on the sidelines so far in October. Van de Beek and Wan-Bissaka have been out for longer, with the pair last appearing for the first team in the closing stages of our 2-1 victory over Liverpool in August.
–IANS
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