Reports suggest Manchester United are confident Cristiano Ronaldo will remain at the club in January because of a lack of interest in him.
If true, nothing has changed since the summer. Jorge Mendes made it very clear during the previous transfer window that his most prominent client wanted to leave Manchester United. The narrative – at the time – was Ronaldo wanted to play in the Champions League instead of the Europa League.
There is a feeling of irony as I write that. Ronaldo, who has only scored one goal this season, fluffed several chances on goal against a bang ordinary Cypriot side on Thursday night. He looked 37-years-old.
Speculation in the summer linked Ronaldo with several Champions League sides – including Chelsea, Napoli and Bayern Munich – but none of these clubs made a formal offer to sign the veteran goalscorer.
However, a recent report from ESPN claims there is an acceptance that Chelsea’s stance may have changed after Graham Potter replaced Thomas Tuchel as manager.
The report states that Chelsea eased their problems up front during the summer by signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang because Tuchel was not convinced by Ronaldo.
ESPN add that Ten Hag would be reluctant to let Ronaldo leave in January, even though Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford are ahead of him in the pecking order.
Ten Hag will rightly argue that United have lots of games coming up and there will be minutes for players like Ronaldo. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner needs to realise that he has to play a bit part role if he wishes to stay at the top level but that won’t be the case forever.
