Arturo Vidal Lashes Out At Erik ten Hag For Cristiano Ronaldo's Axing: 'Bald People Are Complicated'

Former FC Barcelona midfielder Arturo Vidal has lashed out at Erik ten Hag for his handling of Cristiano Ronaldo's departure from Manchester United.

Vidal said Ten Hag had begun life at Manchester United "badly" before making a bizarre statement about bald managers, saying they are "complicated".

Ronaldo's second stint with the Red Devils began in 2021 when he joined the club from Juventus. He finished as the club's top scorer in the 2021-22 season with 24 goals. In the following campaign, Ten Hag came in and a few months later, Ronaldo left Old Trafford on a sour note.

Vidal: Ten Hag's start at Man Utd is bad

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner publicly slammed his then-manager Ten Hag by saying he had no respect for the Dutch boss, who had frequently benched him and at one time suspended him as well.

Vidal, who has won top-flight titles with multiple top European clubs, said that one of the worst things is that Ten Hag was "applauded" by many for axing Ronaldo.

"No, that coach came in badly. How are you going to get Cristiano Ronaldo out? That's how these idiots are, suddenly that's why the coaches arrive and can make a mess. Terrible. I don't know how they think, but take Cristiano out? Cristiano was the scorer and they take him out," Vidal said during his recent Twitch stream.

Vidal then added, "bald people are very complicated", which could have been an apparent dig at Jorge Sampaoli, who was his manager during his time at Flamengo.

The Chilean midfielder, who currently represents Athletico Paranaense, had his contract cancelled with Flamengo earlier this year. On his debut for his new club, Vidal called Sampaoli "a loser coach".

"I got stuck with a loser coach who did not know how to appreciate his players," Vidal said of Sampaoli after his Flamengo exit in July.

Following his fallout with Ten Hag, Ronaldo altogether quit Europe and joined the Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr. Ronaldo joined the Riyadh-based club in January earlier this year and played 19 games for them before the conclusion of the season. He netted 14 goals and recorded two assists but his side missed out on the league title by five points.

Even in the 2023-24 campaign, Al-Nassr has started slowly, having already suffered two losses in the league. With 15 points from seven matches, Ronaldo and co. are currently placed fifth in the league table.

After Ronaldo, Ten Hag has fallout with Sancho

Meanwhile, Ten Hag has had a fallout with another Manchester United player – Jadon Sancho, who has accused the Dutch coach of making him a "scapegoat" at Old Trafford.

After Ten Hag dropped Sancho from Manchester United's trip to Arsenal, the English winger took to social media to blast the boss.

"Please don't believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue, I have conducted myself in training very well this week. I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won't go into, I've been a scapegoat for a long time which isn't fair!" Sancho wrote on now-deleted post on X.

Even though Sancho took down the controversial post, he reportedly refused to apologise to Ten Hag.

As a result, Ten Hag banished Sancho from Manchester United's first-team to the academy side.

It is now understood that Ten Hag has banned Sancho from using all of Manchester United's first-team facilities – including the team's dining room – and he is being forced to eat his meals with the club's academy players.

Various media outlets have also claimed that senior players such as Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford have all urged Sancho to apologise to Ten Hag, while the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) has offered to step in and help resolve the issue.