"Who else is better to listen to than Cristiano Ronaldo" - Gary Pallister says it is no surprise that Ten Hag wants 'one of the greatest players to ever play' at Manchester United next season

Former Manchester United defender Gary Pallister has said he isn’t surprised that manager Erik ten Hag wants Cristiano Ronaldo to stay at Old Trafford next season.

Ronaldo stood out in a struggling Manchester United team last season. The Portuguese scored 18 goals and was only behind the duo of Mohamed Salah and Heung Min-Son in the race for the Premier League golden boot.

However, his goals were not enough for the Red Devils to finish in the top four as they ended the league season in sixth place.

Manchester United regressed last season and have now hired Ten Hag to turn their fortunes around. When the Dutch tactician was quizzed about Cristiano Ronaldo, he revealed he has the forward in his plans for next season.

Pallister said the club should make use of Ronaldo's experience to help the young players and his goal-return next season.

In an exclusive interview with Lordping, he said:

“What a player he's been over the years. I was looking at it last year thinking 'how is this going to plan out'. He still scored a bag full of goals for a team that was struggling. If he was playing for a better side, you wonder how many more goals he would have scored. He's just a machine when he comes to that.

“I thought his best form was certainly towards the end of the season. I thought his general play was much better than the early part of the season. I thought he realised he was going to have to work a bit harder. He was prepared to help his teammates out and do what was necessary and he still scored the goals. There's no surprise Ten Hag wants him there, Cristiano [Ronaldo] wants to be there, I think it's a good thing for the players around the club. Players of that elk.

“As long as they're not a bad influence, as long as they're helping the young players come through. Who else is better to listen to than Ronaldo, one of the greatest players that has ever played the game. It's no surprise he wants him there, he's doing the business on the pitch, he looks after himself really well, he's a model professional so I'm not surprised Ten Hag wants him to sill be involved.”

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Ten Hag will hope to get the best out of Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo

Although Cristiano Ronaldo is 37, he is incredibly fit. The notion of him not being able to play in a system that relies on pressing seems to be blown out of proportion.

A coordinated press relies on all attackers to press in unison. If Ten Hag can find the right players around Ronaldo to press teams out of possession, then the side will function better.

Ralf Rangnick tried and failed in his attempts to make them a better pressing unit, but his problem was perhaps he came too late in the season.

Ten Hag will have an entire preseason and will hope to devise the right setup to return Manchester United to their glory days next season. If Cristiano Ronaldo stays, he will be a key player next season.