'He pulled Cristiano apart': Fernandes reveals United squad's reaction to Ten Hag offloading Ronaldo

When asked about how the Man United squad reacted to Erik ten Hag benching and then offloading Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes told the Between the Lines podcast: “He demands from people. He demands and you either do it, or you’re out.

“In the beginning, everyone was like: ‘Will he do that if a big player doesn’t do what he wants? Will he pull him apart or not?’

“He did it with Cristiano, he did it with Jadon, he did it with Marcus (Rashford). Marcus was in the best form against Wolves, in a big moment, he did something wrong and the manager pulled him out. Everyone was like wow.

“We were like ‘He is our main man, we need him’. But then I said to David (De Gea) ‘It has to be like this’. Because if not, the younger ones will think, next one he will do nothing to me too.

“He demands people to be consistent, off the pitch also. Marcus accepted it, came on, scored and we win. In the end, it’s him and the coach smiling. I’m a father. Sometimes you have to make some rules at home, or in a short period of time they will control the house!”

Ten Hag appears to have complete control over his squad at United and has installed a sense of fear and discipline that is driving every player to do their utmost best.

The gaffer will hope to motivate his players to keep improving their performances and end the season in the best way possible – which is by winning multiple trophies!