Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Manchester United has been up in the air for most of this summer and with two weeks remaining of the transfer window, there is no clarity over whether he will be sticking around for the final year of his contract.
Ronaldo asked to leave the club in July and despite initially insisting that their top goalscorer was not for sale, that stance seems to have softened as United are now open to letting the forward leave.
Erik ten Hag has publicly insisted that he is looking forward to working with Ronaldo this season but according to the Manchester Evening News, the manager has been open to letting Ronaldo depart for weeks.
Read more: Erik ten Hag made late decision on centre-back pairing ahead of Brentford
That prospect is, however, currently being blocked by Joel Glazer, the club’s owner and co-chairman, who is against the idea of selling Ronaldo this summer.
As per the report, Ronaldo is still unhappy at the club and his partner, Georgina Rodriguez, would prefer a move back to Spain.
SN’s verdict…
Ten Hag will have known about the size of the job at his hands when he signed his three-year contract but whether he would have envisaged issues this early into his reign is another matter.
Glazer’s handling of the Ronaldo situation, as described above, completely undermines Ten Hag’s authority. For perspective, Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly decided together that they would not be making a move for the 37-year-old. Owner and manager working in tandem.
Unfortunately, that is unlikely at United and disagreements like this are bound to continue unless ownership changes. That is also highly unlikely.
