Ronaldo continues quest for Champions League with latest club approached
FT Desk
- 26 Aug 2022 04:00 BST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo shows no sign of slowing down in his desperate bid to play this year's Champions League, with Napoli the latest club contacted over a possible transfer.
The Manchester United forward has been looking for a way out of Old Trafford all summer following the club's failure to qualify for the Champions League last season.
Finding an interested party, though, has proved easier said than done.
Despite his sterling record in the competition and the tireless work of agent Jorge Mendes in offering his client's services Ronaldo has faced rejection after rejection this summer.
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The likes of Real and Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain are just some of the clubs who have politely closed the door on the veteran, who has cut a frustrated figure at his current side throughout the transfer window and through to the start of the season proper.
Mendes and Ronaldo are nevertheless not ready to admit defeat, even when the Champions League draw has been completed and the close of the window next week looms large.
Cristiano Napoli-bound?
The duo have reportedly set their sights on southern Italy as the chosen destination.
Gianluca Di Marzio claims that contact with Napoli has been resumed after preliminary talks at the start of August petered out into nothing.
They are not the first Italian side to have been offered the ex-Real Madrid and Juventus star, with Milan and Inter both declining to follow up on Mendes' overtures earlier in the summer.
No negotiations have taken place between Napoli and Ronaldo's team, and further strengthening the attack is far from a priority for the Serie A club despite losing favourite Lorenzo Insigne on a free transfer this summer.
Napoli have already clinched the signings of strikers Giovanni Simeone and Giacomo Raspadori as well as highly rated Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who arrived for a fee of around €10 million from Dinamo Batumi.
One possible option could be a swap deal which would see Victor Osimhen move to Old Trafford, though given United's efforts to sign Antony from Ajax they may not be interested in the Nigeria international.
