Ronaldo pushed towards Man Utd exit by two superstars
Karan Tejwani
- 4 Jul 2022 08:36 BST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo has made his desire to leave Manchester United clear, having seen their slow activity in the summer transfer window thus far.
The Portuguese forward made his return to the club last year, but now wants to leave only one year into his two-year deal, having seen the team struggle domestically and in Europe.
The Red Devils finished sixth last season, only narrowly earning Europa League qualification on the final day of the season, and finished well clear of the final Champions League spot.
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Considering that, Ronaldo has made it clear he wants to leave the club in order to spend the final years of his career competing to win major trophies, which he feels he can no longer do at Old Trafford.
Manchester United, though, are intent on keeping their leading goalscorer, despite making little progress in the transfer window in order to compete with the best.
Transfer failures force Ronaldo's hand
The club made a positive start to the summer with the appointment of Erik ten Hag as head coach, but have only been able to negotiate with clubs on transfers since.
They’ve been working on deals for Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona and Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord, with further interest in Ajax’s Lisandro Martinez as well as the free signing of Christian Eriksen.
However, nothing has been completed, despite letting go of several players following the expiry of their contracts such as Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani, Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic.
On the contrary, league rivals such as Manchester City and Liverpool have already strengthened, with players like Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez coming in.
Manchester United expect Cristiano Ronaldo to return to training this morning after insisting that he is not for sale ❌ pic.twitter.com/QAWgwAtaYQ
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 4, 2022
Other clubs competing for the Champions League places have also got better: Arsenal have made big moves and are set to add Gabriel Jesus next, while Tottenham have brought in the likes of Ivan Perisic and Richarlison.
Ronaldo wished for more transfer activity by this point – there is some belief that he was promised a big transfer by 30 June, but no such thing happened.
The signings of Haaland and Nunez were particularly alarming, as United never stood a realistic chance of signing either following a disappointing campaign and no Champions League football to appeal either player.
Failure to land either player are believed to have added to Ronaldo’s frustrations, and added to his desire in leaving Old Trafford this summer.
United are seemingly adamant that they want their star man to stay this year, and are preparing for him to be included in their pre-season tour to Thailand and Australia over the next few weeks.
