Antonio Valencia has described Cristiano Ronaldo’s explosive interview with Piers Morgan which ultimately led to his Manchester United exit as “shameful”.
Ronaldo left the Red Devils by mutual consent last month after he was very dismissive about the Manchester side in a tell-all interview for TalkTV.
The 37-year-old tried to leave in the summer transfer window but there were no serious suitors for his signature.
No takers he was interested in signing for that is, with a club from Saudi Arabia putting a humungous contract on the table.
During the interview, Ronaldo revealed something rather stunning, insisting he was looking forward to the season with United and it was the club trying to push him out.
He missed the beginning of pre-season due to ‘family reasons’, which led to speculation that he was trying to force an exit.
Ronaldo said the club did not appear to be convinced he was absent for that reason and revealed they disrespected him by claiming he was lying about the situation.
He also said he does not “respect” manager Erik ten Hag and that he hadn’t heard of Ralf Rangnick before he took charge as interim manager last year.
It was an explosive, controversial interview that unsurprisingly attracted a lot of criticism.
Valencia slams Ronaldo’s outburst
And Valencia – who joined United in 2009, five days before Ronaldo left for Real Madrid – believes it was “shameful”, but has wished the Red Devils legend all the best.
“The interview he gave was shameful,” Valencia told Marca.
“He will have his reasons for saying what he said, but I felt very bad about the way he left. It hurts.
“I hope everything goes well for him at his new club. I wish him all the best.”
Valencia said it was “a shame” to see Ronaldo’s time at Old Trafford end in such a hostile manner.
He continued: “It’s a shame that Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United the way he did.
“A player like him should have left with a full stadium applauding him. The fans loved him.”
Al-Nassr’s interest in Ronaldo
Multiple reports have detailed of Al-Nassr’s interest in Ronaldo over the past few weeks and it has once again resurfaced over the past 48 hours.
The Saudi side are the ‘best positioned’ team to land Ronaldo and are willing to sign him on a deal worth £200million per year.
Ronaldo had a World Cup to forget as Portugal lost in the quarter-final against Morocco.
He scored in Portugal’s opening fixture against Ghana before claiming a goal that wasn’t his against Uruguay.
After reacting poorly to being substituted against South Korea, Ronaldo was dropped by Fernando Santos.
