Despite making little secret of his desire to leave the club, Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted he is "happy to be back" after getting his first Manchester United minutes under his belt this summer.
The Portugal skipper only returned for pre-season duty recently after reporting back late than expected - citing family reasons as the explanation behind his surprise absence.
Amid ongoing speculation over his future, Ronaldo made his return to Carrington over the past weeks for talks over his future and to make a return to training - regardless of how brief that could potentially be.
There remains plenty of speculation surrounding where Ronaldo will play his football next term, but as of Sunday afternoon he donned the United strip once again.
The Red Devils took on Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford just 24 hours after a stronger United side faced off with Atletico Madrid in Oslo. While Diego Simeone's side beat Erik ten Hag 's 1-0 in Norway, it was a slightly different story back in Manchester.
Ultimately, United failed to register a win and ended up being held to a 1-1 draw against the Spanish outfit. However, the main talking point centred around Ronaldo's performance and then premature exit from the stadium.
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The 37-year-old teased his appearance days before the game by taking to Instagram to declare: "Sunday, the king plays." With that in mind, Ronaldo actually underwhelmed and failed to deliver the kind of showing that would have justified his pre-match "king" declaration.
In what was his first game under new manager Erik ten Hag, Ronaldo was hooked at half-time after making very little impact on proceedings. To add further insult to injury, Ronaldo's replacement Amad took just two minutes to put United in front while the iconic number seven was still in the dressing room.
Having been taken off, he was then pictured leaving Old Trafford before the end of the game alongside Diogo Dalot - not part of the squad on the day - heading towards the stadium car park.
He did however find time to share his thoughts in the game. Taking to Twitter with an image of him in action, Ronaldo wrote: “Happy to be back.”
United have refused to comment on him potentially leaving early and are remaining stern on their stance over a sale. The Red Devils have pointed to the fact that he is still under contract and is not available under any circumstances.
It remains unclear whether Ten Hag will consider Ronaldo ready enough for the new Premier League season. The Red Devils of course open their new campaign against Brighton & Hove Albion next weekend.
