It is an open secret that Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been trying to engineer a move away from Old Trafford.
However, the Portuguese and his facilitators have not had much luck in finding a suitor looking to take him on board.
As per Duncan Castles, a maverick reporter with known ties to Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes, the player is still keen on a move away but is acceptant that this may be difficult. Erik ten Hag is also keen on moving on the player.
“Ten Hag has dropped Ronaldo to the bench for the last two games and is said to be open to him leaving the club having previously said he was not for sale,” Castles said.
“Ten Hag changed his position in the aftermath of a 4-0 loss at Brentford.”
“Hired from Ajax in April, United’s new manager blamed the defeat on individual errors and reprimanded his players for a lack of physical effort.”
“Ronaldo is understood to have been unimpressed with Ten Hag’s attempt to shift responsibility to the players and their physical output in London. The Dutchman, who’d never resorted to such antediluvian disciplinary measures across his five seasons at Ajax, made it known that he was now open to selling Ronaldo, and hasn’t started him since.”
In addition to Ten Hag, as per Castles, a section of the Dutchman’s staff would also be open to seeing Ronaldo leave, believing it would allow other squad members to express themselves.
Regarding an exit for Ronaldo with just days in the transfer market left, “The Glazer family are prepared to both suffer the commercial consequences of granting Ronaldo his transfer and spend heavily on replacements,” the reporter says.
Bayern Munich and Chelsea debated adding the Portuguese captain to their ranks but quickly decided against it. A return to Sporting Lisbon is also out of the question, with Reuben Amorim firmly against the idea of bringing in the 37-year-old.
“A return to his first club, Sporting, has been much discussed in Portugal, yet their coach has let his opposition to a transfer become known to local media,” Castles claims.
“Already publicly critical of Sporting’s decision to sell Matheus Nunes to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Rúben Amorim has intimidated that he might walk out on his contract were Ronaldo signed.”
“Ronaldo is understood to find the posturing of a coach whose team has won just one of three Liga Portugal matches this season laughable.”
A move to Napoli would heavily depend on player sales.
“In Italy, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has a long-standing interest in signing Ronaldo, and the country’s “inpatriate” tax laws to assist him. Napoli also needs income from a player sale to fund a deal though, with De Laurentiis placing a €120 million price tag on the Nigeria international Victor Osimhen. ”
Taking everything into account, it now looks like the player is set for a campaign in the Europa League with the Red Devils.
