Cristiano Ronaldo not for sale as Atletico Madrid dismiss reports of their interest in the Portuguese forward

It may well be that Ronaldo has no choice other than to stay at United

Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the clubs Carrington training ground on Tuesday for discussions about his future amid the rumours that he wants to leave United to play in the UEFA Champions League this smoking season. However, United’s stance has not changed – they do not want to sell him.

The Sun revealed earlier in the summer that Ronaldo was determined to leave the club because of a failure to play in the Champions League, despite saying he was happy in June and knowing that Champions League football was near enough impossible back in April.

It all seems like Ronaldo is in it for himself and not this club, so keeping him whilst he is unhappy could be detrimental to Erik ten Hag’s debut season and the apple cart has already seen enough upset since the supposed ‘prodigal son’ returned to the Theatre of Dreams. I am not saying United’s downfall is his fault by the way.

The 37-year-old has not heard it from his employers that they do not intend to sell hims this summer and something will have to give either way as this cannot continue into the new season causing problems in the background. Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes has been offering his client around this summer.

He has been linked to Barcelona, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain – amongst the teams that probably could afford to sign the player with the most recent links coming from Atletico Madrid. However, with the player’s history at Real Madrid, that could be a complicated move for the Portuguese forward.

The speculation has been rife linking the player back to Madrid but it looks like United mean business and will dig their heels in and make Ronaldo honour the contract that was signed just under a year ago which was a two-year contract at United with the option of a third. The impasse will remain until there is a solution. Obviously.

His impending exit of United seems to have been dealt a further blow with Enrique Cerezo, the president of Atletico Madrid speaking to Spanish radio station COPE about the rumours linking his club with Ronaldo. It seems like all of Ronaldo’s options this summer have distanced themselves from him, which must hurt. Cerezo said:

“I don’t know who invented this story about Cristiano Ronaldo to Atletico Madrid. It’s definitely not true. It’s practically impossible for him to come to Atletico de Madrid.”

Obviously something needs to happen with Ronaldo this summer and his demand to continue playing Champions League football this season is something he will not back down from. He was part of the squad that failed to qualify but seems to think playing in the UEFA Europa League is below him. I understand the hunger but he’s got a responsibility in United’s failure too.

Written by John Walker

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I support Manchester United, the greatest English football team to have ever existed. Bruno Fernandes is the latest in a long line of players with great ability to play for the club. I idolised Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Eric Cantona growing up.