# Mike Phelan Reveals Friction Caused by Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘Tougher Mindset’ at Manchester United
Cristiano Ronaldo made a surprise return to Manchester United in August 2021 and scored 24 goals in his first season back at Old Trafford. However, the team endured a turbulent campaign and ended up finishing sixth in the Premier League table. Former United assistant manager Mike Phelan has now revealed that Ronaldo’s ‘tougher mindset’ caused friction among the squad.
Phelan worked with Ronaldo during both of his spells at United and has revealed that the 38-year-old made his frustration clear when he failed to galvanise certain members of the squad before his departure.
‘The second time round, he came in a lot older and a lot more opinionated, strong-willed,’ Phelan told Sky Sports. ‘He still had massively high standards and was terrific to work with. But I’d probably say a tougher mindset. He had been at Man United, he had been Portugal’s ever-present, he had been at Madrid.’
Phelan went on to explain that Ronaldo wanted other people’s standards to come up to match his own, but this caused some tension in the squad. ‘I liked it because he didn’t want his standards to drop, he wanted other people’s standards to come up. And sometimes you lose a few people along the way when that happens,’ he said.
Much to Ronaldo’s dismay, United ended up appointing Ralf Rangnick as interim manager for the remainder of the season and the team ended up finishing sixth in the table. Ronaldo cut a frustrated figure in his second season at United under Erik ten Hag and following a bombshell interview in which he slammed the Dutchman, as well as the club’s hierarchy, his contract was terminated, which paved the way for his move to Saudi Arabia.
Phelan believes that Ronaldo realised he couldn’t reach his goals at United and so decided to take on new challenges elsewhere. ‘When you deal with top, top people, it’s about them and where they can finish and where they can get to. They want to look back and go, ‘wow, that was successful’. And he probably realised, and I don’t know as I never had that conversation with him, that he couldn’t do it at Manchester United. So his challenges were elsewhere.’
Ronaldo is still playing international football and scoring goals in Saudi Arabia, which Phelan believes proves that he is still capable of doing what he did at United. ‘He is doing all the things we knew he could do at Manchester United,’ said Phelan.
It is clear that Ronaldo had a huge impact on Manchester United during his two spells at the club, but his ‘tougher mindset’ caused some friction among the squad. Despite this, Phelan has praised Ronaldo for his hard work and challenge to those around him, which pushed them to reach new levels of success.