'Ronaldo will adapt to my style and stay at Man Utd till 2026'

New Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is convinced that Cristiano Ronaldo will adapt to Manchester United’s new playing style and raised the prospect of keeping the wantaway star at Old Trafford for the next two seasons.

Ronaldo wants to leave for a club that is competing in the Champions League, but Ten Hag, the United manager, knows that there is a one-year extension clause in the 37-year-old’s contract that could be activated when it expires at the end of next season.

“I am well informed. He also has also an option [to have his contract extended by a year],” Ten Hag, 52, said.

When asked if that meant Ronaldo could therefore stay until the end of the 2023-24 season, Ten Hag said: “Yes. Of course, I have signed here for three years, but in football it’s short-term as well. We have to win from the start. I don’t look that far ahead. I have a strategy, it’s a process, it takes time.”

Ronaldo is absent from United’s pre-season tour of Australia and Thailand for family reasons.

The five-times Ballon d’Or winner is a target for Atletico Madrid. Ronaldo branded speculation that he had held talks with Sporting Lisbon, his former club, as “fake” on Monday.

Ronaldo knows that his options are extremely limited given that very few clubs can afford to match his present wage, which is worth more than £500,000 per week.

Ten Hag said he expects Ronaldo to stay and play a key role in his bid to get United back into the Champions League by playing high-pressing, high-energy football. The former interim manager Ralf Rangnick famously said that Ronaldo was “not a pressing monster” but his successor is sure that the Portuguese forward can press the opposition.

“I think Cristiano is capable of doing that. In his career he has shown everything,” Ten Hag said. “I have set my demands [of the squad]. We want to play in a certain way. A top player can contribute and Ronaldo is an absolute top player in our squad.”

Ten Hag has no qualms about Ronaldo’s absence from the tour, although he was unable to say whether he would be returning to training in Manchester next week when the rest of the squad return from Perth, where they play their final tour friendly against Aston Villa on Saturday.

“He is training [in Lisbon],” Ten Hag said. “I think we all know Ronaldo is a top professional and he will be fit, that is the last concern I have.”

Ten Hag made it clear that he wants his players to set high standards on and off the pitch after dressing room in-fighting — and poor performances — helped contribute to an embarrassing sixth-placed finish last season.

“When there is no discipline around you, you will not find it on the pitch as well,” Ten Hag said. “On such issues, I’m quite severe.”