Patrice Evra, a Manchester United hero, believes Cristiano Ronaldo is 'happy' now that he is no longer at Old Trafford. The 37-year-old was fired last month following a shocking interview with Piers Morgan. He is now expected to join Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr, who are willing to pay him a lucrative contract to secure his signature.
Manchester United had hoped to keep Ronaldo until the end of the season after successfully retaining his services in the summer.
However, the Red Devils agreed to part ways with their former captain after he criticized the club, Erik ten Hag, and the Glazers in an interview with Morgan.
United are now hoping to maintain their charge towards the Premier League top four without Ronaldo, who is set to join Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
And, according to Evra, who spoke on Amazon Prime, the 37-year-old will be relieved to be gone.
"I'm not sure if it was the best decision, but I think the club is happy, and Cristiano is happy because it was a difficult situation," he explained."A lot of controversy, I think more people were talking about Cristiano Ronaldo than Manchester United and nothing is above the club.
"As a player he's been hurt, he's a human being, that's why his last interview is not quite a great interview, because you can't like talk bad about the club, but it shows he's a human being.
"You can't quite know what's happening behind the scenes so that's why I can't talk for Cristiano Ronaldo - it's between him and ten Hag."There was no way back, after that interview, the club, and even himself, he knew he would never play again for United, but let's not forget what he achieved for the club.
"He's one of the greatest players to ever play for Manchester United; it's unfortunate how it ended, but that's football."
Stuart Pearce also commented on Amazon.
And the former West Ham and England star believes that taking on a player who will go down as a great of the game was always going to be a test of Ten Hag's mettle."When you walk through the door as a new manager at this fantastic football club, I think it's a difficult job for him," he said.
"Aside from his reputation in many ways, he owed Cristiano nothing.
"I can see it from both sides, from the standpoint of the player." I'm quite saddened by how it happened and the outcome, but I'm just glad there's been a natural break at this point in time, but that natural break should have come with a conversation between the two of them last summer."There was talk about him leaving then and probably the manager and him should have sat down and probably gone their separate ways then, because you've got to bear in mind that his first time round at the club and last time that he walked through the door in 2021, he was lauded as a real role model to the younger players.
"And I hope that hasn't been tainted too much in this because he's done a lot of great things for this football club."
Meanwhile, Michael Owen is concerned for Manchester United if they are forced to rely on their current attacking options to produce results."That's the issue, I hear ten Hag saying Marcus Rashford probably needs to score 20 goals and this, that, and the other," he explained.
"Well, they had 20 goals plus sat right under his nose, but unfortunately he was sat on the bench a lot of the time.
"The way things were going, it had to come to an end, but it didn't have to be that way.
"He could have played him every week and then he would have solved this problem of scoring goals and that's the point."You either play Cristiano Ronaldo every week and never take him off, or you don't, and if you don't, he's no good at your football club.
"He's not a substitute or a squad player, so they'll have to find a way to replace his goals now."
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