Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister has fuelled speculation the veteran forward could leave Manchester United this summer by liking a post about the possibility on social media.
Ronaldo has cut a frustrated figure on the pitch for United this season. While the 37-year-old has personally performed well, scoring 24 goals in 38 appearances, the team has endured a miserable campaign which hit a new low in the 4-0 defeat by Brighton on Saturday afternoon.
United are now guaranteed to record their worst ever Premier League campaign, eclipsing the catastrophic 2013/14 season under David Moyes. Ralf Rangnick’s side have taken just 58 points from 37 games and sit sixth ahead of their last game against Crystal Palace on the final day of the season.
Ronaldo signed a two-year contract when he completed a £12.85million move back to Old Trafford from Juventus last summer. However, there has been speculation he could cut ties with the club in the summer transfer window and jump ship before Erik ten Hag takes the reins.
That possibility is clearly something Ronaldo's sister Katia Aveiro believes in. The 44-year-old, who has 1.2m followers on Instagram, has made her thoughts on her brother’s situation clear by liking a post from a popular Portuguese fan account called @cr7.o_lendario, which suggested Ronaldo moves on to continue playing at the top level.
"It is very sad to see Cristiano Ronaldo in this situation with this Manchester United team. Now we are without a place in the Champions League,” the caption of the post reads when translated from Portuguese to English.
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"Cristiano does not have to stand [stay] as proof of love for the club, the greatest proof of that was he returned to Manchester United having also had a proposal from Manchester City with clearly a much superior squad, coach and by recent history.
"Cristiano has to think about Cristiano now. Manchester United will still last another thousand years. Cristiano, you have four more, five years of your career. Look for a better team now because you deserve it and because you still have a lot of football [trophies] to win."
Ronaldo has reportedly told his team-mates that he will stay at United for another campaign if Ten Hag wants him. A source told The Sun : “Ronaldo told the players he’s not going anywhere unless the club say they don’t want him. No one is more disappointed than him about how the season has panned out. But he doesn’t want to leave on a low and wants to help get the club back into the Champions League and try and win a trophy next year.
“However, he has told them if the new boss wants to go in a different direction, then he will have no hard feelings and has no regrets about coming back to Old Trafford.”
