Cristiano Ronaldo has left Michael Owen red-faced over Man Utd icon's retirement plan

Cristiano Ronaldo has firmly shut down speculation about entering the world of football coaching post-retirement, despite recent comments from Michael Owen imagining him at the helm of Manchester United or Portugal.

The celebrated player, who will celebrate his 40th birthday in February, has been the subject of widespread curiosity about his next move after an illustrious playing career.

Having recently set up a YouTube channel, Ronaldo’s global fame continues to bring lucrative endorsement deals. Yet Owen suggested a potential future in management for him, claiming: “Just looking from the outside, it feels like he might want to be at the side of the pitch managing Portugal like he did at Euro 2016,” when speaking to Goal.

“He looks like a coach, he looks like he wants to coach, so he might want to go down that route. The Portugal job, probably in the future, we might have his name on it, you never know.”

Owen went on to add: “Of course, if he does well, then great teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid would then be looking at him.”

However, in a candid interview with Rio Ferdinand on his own YouTube platform just a week later, Ronaldo said the exact opposite, insisting that coaching isn’t in his sights and highlighting his issues with the current generation of players’ work ethic.

He expressed: “For me will be difficult one day to be a coach, because I don’t have passion for this generation, it’s difficult especially in football, because they don’t take advice by our experience.

“They think they know everything, they think the phones will give you good education, the TikTok, the Instagram. I have other things to worry about, another chapter of my life that is a business part that I’m excited about.

“It will be a challenge to me and learn other areas I don’t know, be more involved in my business and I think will be good.”

Ronaldo has already confirmed that he will retire with his current club in Saudi Arabia. “I don’t know if I will retire soon, in two or three years… but probably I will retire here at Al-Nassr,” Ronaldo told Portuguese TV channel NOW. “I’m very happy at this club, I feel good in this country too. I’m happy to play in Saudi Arabia and I want to continue.”

But Portugal fans won’t get the chance to give him a farewell tour, with Ronaldo claiming that he will go out without giving any notice: “When I leave the national team, I will not tell anyone; it will be a very spontaneous decision on my part.”