According to reports, CristianoRonaldo informed Manchester United at the beginning of July that he planned to quit the club this summer in order to participate in the UEFA Champions League for another team. While everything was going on, the superstar himself turned down a move to a Saudi Arabian team that offered him a stunning earnings of €2m-per-week.
Although he was connected to many teams, the veteran eventually ended up staying with Red Devils and has already started playing in the 2022-23 season. However, despite making seven appearances for Erik ten Hag’s squad this season, the forward has only started two games.
He even failed to score for the second straight game against Real Sociedad in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday. To make matters worse, he has inexplicablyfallen down the pecking orderfor the starting position in the league’s central striker position, behind Marcus Rashford.
Will Cristiano Ronaldo see out his Manchester United contract until June 2023?
The January transfer window may bring further speculation over the future of the Portugal international captain, and according to the British newspaperThe Sun, several Manchester United players anticipate that their top teammate will push to leave in the early months of 2023.
Although Ronaldo’s current deal at Old Trafford is set to expire in June 2023, he has the option to extend it by another year, which would keep him at the club until the conclusion of the 2023-24 season. Moreover, even though the 37-year-oldis still in Erik Ten Hag‘s plans, hiscolleagues are reportedly not pleased by his failure to learn the Dutch manager’s new strategy and are expecting him to again seek a transfer out of Old Trafford.
“All the players loved it when Ronaldo came back to United last season but they are frustrated he missed pre-season. The manager put a lot of work into giving the squad detailed information about what he wanted them to do and how he wanted them to play. Ronaldo is not up to speed with that and is relying on instinct when he plays. But that doesn’t work in Ten Hag’s system.
“He often demands the ball too early in build-up play and drops deep for the ball, but that means when the ball is wide there is no-one in the middle to hit it into. Ten Hag and the rest of the players really rate Ronaldo.But it’s clear that the success they have had this season is from following tactical instruction rather than the individual brilliance they relied on last season. Ronaldo is likely to find himself on the bench again going forward.
“And he is going to have to get used to scoring a lot less goals because he is only being introduced towards the end of games when Ten Hag has already made changes which make United less attacking. He needs to realise it’s only going to work if he tunes into ten Hag’s plans,” an unnamed source is said to have said in the news article.
