Former Manchester United coach Chris Armas has urged Erik ten Hag to take a hands-on approach to ensure Cristiano Ronaldo remains at Old Trafford.

Armas served as assistant to Ralf Rangnick during the German's six-month spell as interim manager last season.

He worked alongside Ronaldo, who now wishes to leave the club, after United failed to qualify for the Champions League by missing out on the top four.

Ex-Manchester United assistant coach Chris Armas has urged Erik ten Hag to 'engage' with Cristiano Ronaldo

Armas has told

🗣️ "He's got so much to give... his commitment to winning and scoring"

Former #MUFC assistant coach Chris Armas says the club need to keep 'leader' Cristiano Ronaldo and says reports of dressing room unrest under Ralf Rangnick were untrue. pic.twitter.com/r3KRdptVmW

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 3, 2022

The American coach said: 'He's a big part of the team and he's still a guy that produced so it would be my job to figure out how to get all that talent and all that fire and experience of winning and challenge him as much as I could.

'I think the most important thing is to engage with Cristiano. He's got so much to give, again his commitment to winning and scoring.

'Each guy has their different type of leadership - he can certainly be a leader in his way and my goal like everyone else on the roster was "how can I get the best out of Cristiano?"

'So I do think that's a hands-on approach, it's speaking with him, it's bringing him into the office, it's asking him questions. So he's part of the solutions and part of the success.'

United are hoping for a big improvement this season under new manager Ten Hag, after Rangnick's short spell in charge was widely ridiculed.

A number of reports have suggested that United's players were less than impressed with both Rangnick and his coaching staff.

It was said that former New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC manager Armas was compared to Ted Lasso - the protagonist in the Apple TV+ series where an American college football coach is hired to manage a Premier League side, after only having experience in American football.

Players were less than impressed that much of the sessions were led by Armas and by the emphasis on regular organisational and shape work instead of drills to improve skills.

The club showed signs of improvement when Rangnick first came in, before eventually tailing off again and finishing sixth in the table - 13 points off the top four.

Armas though said that a lot of the stories about unrest behind the scenes at Old Trafford were untrue.

He said: 'So when things are trying to penetrate and negativity comes from the outside - to be honest with you, a lot of it was untrue. It does create negativity.'

Armas added: 'After the Champions League exit, not getting the result at home, we let that one go for sure, you could see the air got sucked out a little bit on what we were doing and it got difficult down that stretch. 

'It was disappointing in the end but overall an incredible experience for me.'

Despite his desire to leave the club, Ronaldo has been training with the club and made his return against Spanish outfit Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.

He played just 45 minutes before departing the ground ahead of the full-time whistle.

It has been reported that he will start on the bench for United's opening game of the season against Brighton.