Cristiano Ronaldo on the brink at Man Utd as they prepare legal action to rip up £16m deal after Piers Morgan interview

MANCHESTER UNITED are preparing to take legal action against Cristiano Ronaldo over his bombshell interview with Piers Morgan.

Ronaldo has torn the club to shreds in a two night one-on-one world exclusive on Talk TV that has rocked football.

SunSport revealed exclusively this week that the club wanted to rip up his contract.

A club statement has now confirmed they have started taking action in the wake of the interview.

United have reportedly instructed Ronaldo not to return to Carrington once he gets back from the World Cup.

It is also understood the club have begun the legal process to terminate Ronaldo's £500k-a-week deal without paying him a single penny of the £16million he would have earned until he deal expires at the end of June.

The statement read: "Manchester United has this morning initiated appropriate steps in response to Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent media interview.

"We will not be making further comment until this process reaches its conclusion.’

It follows a lengthier statement issued earlier this week in which the club acknowledged the tell-all interview.

Ronaldo slammed the club and revealed he does not respect manager Erik ten Hag in the 90-minute sit-down on TalkTV.

United chiefs, including Ten Hag, met on Monday to discuss how to respond to Ronaldo's outburst.

In the first half of the interview which aired on Wednesday Ronaldo described his shock at the club's stagnation since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure in 2013.

He also spoke of his surprise at the club appointing Ralf Rangnick on an interim basis - revealing he had never even heard of the German.

Ronaldo went on to criticise the Glazers and accused the American owners of not caring about the club.

He said: "The Glazers, they don’t — they don’t care about, about the club. I mean, professional sport.

“As you know this, Manchester is a marketing club. They will get its money from the marketing, the sport, it’s . . . they don’t really care, in my opinion.”

Asked: “Do you ever talk to them, the Glazers?”, Ronaldo replied “Never. No. They give all the power to the president, sporting director.”