Cristiano Ronaldo has been left out of Manchester United’s squad for their penultimate pre-season friendly against Atletico Madrid in Oslo.
The 37-year-old wants to leave Old Trafford this summer and although the club insist he is not for sale, Erik ten Hag has left the forward behind after naming a 21-man group consisting largely of first-team players for Saturday’s match.
United are also set to face Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford on Sunday and although the Premier League side explained players absent from their Oslo trip could feature in Manchester the following day, Ten Hag is expected to field an experiential side of youth team players in their final pre-season outing.
Ronaldo’s future has been the subject of significant speculation since he did not show up to training on July 4 due to “family reasons”. It has been reported that the Portuguese wants to leave United in order to play Champions League football and he subsequently did not travel on the club’s pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia.
Ronaldo returned to United’s Carrington training base this week alongside agent Jorge Mendes for showdown talks with new manager Ten Hag ahead of the new season. On Thursday night, he also posted a cryptic comment on social media, hitting out at “lies” after it was suggested Mendes was “less than positive” following the talks that Ronaldo would get his move.
“Impossible not to talk about me one day,” Ronaldo wrote in an Instagram comment. “Otherwise the press makes no money. You know that if you don’t lie you can’t get people’s attention. Keep going that one day you get some news right.”
New signings Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez, who also did not take part in United’s pre-season tour, have been included in the travelling party to Norway.
While several players, such as midfielder Scott McTominay, have also been left behind due to injury, there was no explanation for Ronaldo’s absence in a brief statement from United confirming their squad for Saturday’s match.
United open their Premier League campaign at home to Brighton next Sunday.
