Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has leapt to the defence of former Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo after midfielder Bruno Fernandes targeted some thinly-veiled criticism at his Portuguese teammate.<\/p>\n
Raphael Varane immediately defended Ronaldo after Fernandes appeared to suggest that United would be better off without the Portuguese superstar after their 3-1 win over Crystal Palace on Tuesday when Fernando suggested that the squad are more effective in the press without Ronaldo – who is missing from the club’s pre-season tour.<\/p>\n
“The three guys up front [Sancho, Rashford and Martial] are really aggressive in the press,” the 27-year-old playmaker said. “When they press they make the last line squeeze, and makes the midfield come a little bit higher.”<\/p>\n
But Varane, who played with Ronaldo at Real Madrid, has hailed him as a “legend” and insisted no-one in the dressing room believes United are better off without him.<\/p>\n
“Of course we want to improve,” he said. “Cristiano is a great competitor, he’s a legend. Obviously it’s very good to play with him and he always helps the team.<\/p>\n
“He’s a great player and we all want the best players in the team. We will try to improve next season. We appreciate him as a player and as a person,” he said. “I think this debate was outside of the dressing room. We know his quality.<\/p>\n
“And we know he’s very famous, so we know a lot of people will speak about the performance of the team and his performance.”<\/p>\n
Varane’s kind words notwithstanding, Ronaldo’s Old Trafford future is still hanging in the balance. He did not travel for United’s pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia due to ‘personal reasons’ and has indicated that he wants to leave the club.<\/p>\n
Despite initial interest in the veteran forward shown by Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain,yet none of them came in with a bid for the wantaway star, leaving him awkwardly in limbo.<\/p>\n
United boss Erik ten Hag is still obdurately adamant that Ronaldo is not for sale this summer, despite the fact the pair of them haven’t spoken in over a month.<\/p>\n
Well, the clock is still ticking down with the start of the new Premier League season quickly drawing close and the messy situation still shows no signs of resolving itself. Not an ideal way to start fresh, obviously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"