Erik ten Hag has told Cristiano Ronaldo he has no idea what’s going on at Manchester United now he is playing his football in Saudi Arabia after dismissing the criticism of him this week.

Ronaldo slammed Ten Hag’s lack of ambition and said the manager of United can’t say that they can’t win the Premier League or the Champions League.

But Ten Hag bit back and accused Ronaldo of saying the very same thing in his interview on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, with the 39-year-old saying it would be “very difficult” for United to win the title this season.

“He said that Manchester United can’t win the Premier League,” Ten Hag said. “He said this if you read the article very well. He’s far away in Saudi, far away from Manchester. Everyone can have an opinion. It’s okay.”

Ronaldo used his appearance on Ferdinand’s podcast to take aim at the manager he fell out with before leaving United under a cloud in November 2022.

“Manchester, they need to rebuild everything, in my opinion,” said Ronaldo. “The coach, they say they cannot compete to win the league and Champions League. Manchester United coach, you cannot say that you’re not going to fight to win the league or Champions League.

“You have to be, to mentally say, ‘listen, maybe we don’t have that potential, but I cannot say that’. We’re going to try. You have to try.”

Later in the podcast, Ronaldo did admit that he felt United would find it difficult to challenge for such honours at the moment.

“They can do good things, yes, they can win Carabao, yeah, but I mean, Champions League or Europa League or Premier League, difficult, in my opinion. And I wish that I’m wrong, I wish, but will be difficult,” he said.

Ronaldo’s interview was another distraction during the international break for Ten Hag, with the pressure building after two defeats in the first three Premier League games.

But the Dutchman said he shuts out the external noise and was confident his team were on the right track.

“Doesn’t impact me, I know in the process where we are, where we’re going,” said Ten Hag.

“We’re in the transition period, we have to integrate a lot of young players in the team. We have to bring the injuries back in the team. Before anyone thinks about excuses, we have to win every game, I know that, the team knows this. We will focus on every game and have the mindset we have to win.”