Former Manchester United captain Antonio Valencia is sorry seeing his old club struggling.

Valencia also questioned whether it was wise to keep hold of Cristiano Ronaldo.

He told AS: "Thank God, I had a very good 10-year career in Manchester. I hope that other Ecuadorian players can reach that great team or others like Real Madrid and Barcelona. Conditions there are.

"It hurts me a lot (regarding the current team), because it is a club that I carry in my heart. We made life there... But it is a process, the coach is new. You have to be patient and hopefully very soon they will take the course of fighting for the titles."

On Ronaldo, Valencia said: "When a player is no longer comfortable in a team, you have to open the doors for him to leave. Manchester needs players who want to stay. I don't know what Cristiano's position would be, but he's a very intelligent player, and if he doesn't want to be there, it's because he saw something or didn't like something.

"So, you have to open the doors for those players and let them go, because they are legends who have left many fruits."