Cristiano Ronaldo is facing up to another season at Manchester United, despite missing at least the start of the pre-season tour to Thailand.
Chelsea have not yet made a concrete decision on whether to make a move for the 37-year-old, but that will be left to Thomas Tuchel, and the current feeling is that he has little interest in pursuing a deal.
It means there is not much of a market for Ronaldo, despite super agent Jorge Mendes investigating possibilities, although sources close to the player insist that the level of his own agitation has been overplayed. That is particularly the case with the idea of any “strike”.
While the Portuguese has been concerned by the lack of activity at Old Trafford and wants to play in the Champions League, there is a genuine personal reason as to why he has missed training, which has naturally not been reported due to privacy issues.
The club have accepted this, and their comfort with the situation is illustrated by the fact Ronaldo was still included in all the publicity for the launch of the new shirt on Friday.
That only feeds to the much more relevant fact they have reiterated their stance has not changed and he is not for sale.
United similarly do not want to pursue a new No 9, when they have transfer priorities elsewhere.
The other side of that, however, is there aren’t that many potential buyers. Mendes has been investigating the possibility of a move, and many clubs have at least been willing to have the discussion.
One of those is Chelsea and while the new ownership were at least intrigued by the idea, the current policy amid a large-scale overhaul of the club is to leave any transfer decision to Tuchel.
They do not want a situation where they are giving the manager players that he doesn’t want. A firm call on Ronaldo has not been made, but he is not on the German’s list of targets.
Mendes’s first round of meetings produced such little response that they were willing to considerably lower the player’s wage demands, but that has only been followed by a series of clubs – from Bayern Munich to Napoli – publicly declaring they are not interested.
It would take a significant shift from one club to change the situation.
In the meantime, United have got closer to Ajax’s £45m valuation of Lisandro Martinez, although made up with some incentives.
There is hope that will bring agreement, although any similar deal for Antony looks less likely due to the Dutch club knowing how valuable the player can become.
United are meanwhile standing their ground on Frenkie de Jong, despite reports of Chelsea’s interest.
The majority of a deal has been agreed, including a price, but the Old Trafford club have to wait on the outcome of a situation that sees Barcelona owe De Jong £17m in deferred wages.
