Rio Ferdinand warns Erik ten Hag over Cristiano Ronaldo after his latest strop in the win over Tottenham

Rio Ferdinand says Erik ten Hag must let Cristiano Ronaldo leave Manchester United in January if continues to be restricted to a bit-part role at the club.

Manchester United news, exclusives and analysis

Ronaldo stormed off down the tunnel in a strop as he failed to come on from the bench as United beat Tottenham 2-0 on Wednesday night, with Dutch boss Ten Hag admitting after the victory that he will ‘deal with’ the player on Thursday.

The 37-year-old, widely linked with an exit from Old Trafford in the summer, has been limited to 340 minutes of action across his opening eight Premier League games this term and was also an unused substitute against Manchester City.

Former United defender Ferdinand, quizzed about the Portugal international’s lack of playing time, told his YouTube channel: ‘My only thought could be is that Cristiano Ronaldo is being saved for the weekend against Chelsea.

‘That’s the only way that I see it, logically, that he did not play [last night]. I think Ronaldo will be absolutely fuming with that, naturally.

‘I wouldn’t expect anything different from him. I think the big problem Erik ten Hag has got is that, coming up to this next window, he has to think very carefully about what he does.

‘If he doesn’t see Ronaldo as a starter in his team more often than not, I think he has to release him from his contract.

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>“I will deal with that tomorrow” Erik ten Hag gives his reaction to Cristiano Ronaldo walking down the tunnel before the end of #MUNTOT…#PLonPrime pic.twitter.com/A0QQwxcBLj

‘He has to let him go. It’s not fair on anybody, on the club, on Ronaldo, on Ten Hag, that the first question after every game is ‘Why didn’t Ronaldo start?’

‘That will be a story. United won 2-0