South African legend Benni McCarthy has claimed that former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag preferred Anthony Martial over Cristiano Ronaldo as he expected more from a striker.
McCarthy spent two years working as an assistant with Ten Hag at Old Trafford, having joined the club in July 2022 mainly tasked with aiding the attacking players.
The former Porto and Blackburn Rovers frontman has now since revealed that the reason why Ten Hag preferred Martial over Ronaldo was because the Frenchman had the capacity to press without compromising scoring opportunities, something he felt Ronaldo was not capable of doing.
“Erik wanted pressing from the start,” McCarthy exclusively told Ladbrokes at the launch of Gaffer of all Accas, according to Manchester Eveneing News.
“And I think Ronaldo, when he came to United, in his early years at Real Madrid, he was able to do what Erik expected him to do, like high press and then still have enough in the tank to get himself into positions to score.
“So, Ronaldo was varying his game a lot, but it wasn’t how Erik wanted to play. So, he felt that it just couldn’t work. Having Cris in the starting XI wouldn’t work with the way we wanted to play, and that’s why Erik preferred Anthony Martial.”
Despite it not working out for the Portuguese superstar during his second spell at United, McCarthy praised his presence which he felt rubbed off on the players.
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“That’s why it’s just a real, real shame that it didn’t work out because I thought he still would have been great. He was great. And he was great for the players just for his mentality because that’s what you have to have when you play at United.
“You have to have the toughest mentality around because the amount of pressure, the amount of scrutiny that comes with being a United player. You need mettle, you know, and yeah, unfortunately it just didn’t work out the way we wanted it to because of Ronaldo’s age.
“He wasn’t capable of lasting in the way the manager wanted and expected from his No. 9, and because of what happened, he had to move on. But I loved every minute of working with him.”
Meanwhile McCarthy himself is set to be unveiled as new Kenya head coach on Monday. He arrived in the country alongside Moeneeb Josephs on Thursday.
