Louis Saha believes Cristiano Ronaldo needs to leave Manchester United if he no longer wants to be at the club, but until a deal comes to fruition he must remain professional.
Aside from United's prolonged chase of Frenkie de Jong, the future of Ronaldo has been the saga of the summer as he made it public that he wants to leave Old Trafford for a second time just before the club embarked on their pre-season tour. It's understood that a combination of a lack of Champions League football, the slow start to the transfer window and a 25 per cent pay cut that was enforced on the squad after failing to make the top four are the factors behind his decision.
Ronaldo didn't go on the tour due to family reasons but, while United enjoyed a galvanising time in Thailand and Australia, the No.7 struggled to find a suitor. Chelsea appeared to be interested until Thomas Tuchel rejected the idea, Bayern Munich made it clear they wouldn't be making a move and the fans of the latest possible destination, Atletico Madrid, protested against the notion during a friendly on Wednesday.
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That hasn't left Ronaldo with many other options if he hopes to play in Europe's top competition. He returned to Carrington on Tuesday with agent Jorge Mendes to hold crunch talks but it remains unclear if he has changed his stance.
Saha believes that, until he can engineer a way out of the club, Ronaldo needs to stop the 'disruptions' and get back to training. "He needs to go if he doesn't want to stay, that's for sure," the Frenchman told the Manchester Evening News, with Sky Bet Fan Hope Hub. "As simple as that.
"But I'm a big supporter of Cristiano Ronaldo, his career, what he's done in the game. I was always defending him because the criticism is not right last season, he's not the only player [who should] provide quality week in, week out, everyone should have done it. That wasn't the case for Anthony [Martial] last year, for Marcus [Rashford], [Edinson] Cavani was injured a lot so Cristiano has had to put a lot of pressure on and he delivered.
"So I understand now you don't want to be in the same situation where every time it was his name on the cabinet when he was not playing well or not scoring. If he feels like he hasn't been given the guarantees that he wanted, yes, I understand that he needs to go but this situation can drag on so we need to find a suitor because he wants to go.
"Otherwise, he has to actually go and train and do the best for the club that he is under contract with. That's it. So the disruptions should stop now, whether you're happy or not you have to look out for your club that you support, that you love, and if you find a deal you find a deal. But you should stop talking now and respect the institution."
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