Cristiano Ronaldo could be testing Erik ten Hag's nerve with his latest update in what looks to be a similar tactic to one he deployed while under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's rule.
Despite relentless speculation surrounding the 37-year-old's future after he made clear he wants to leave the club, Ronaldo has now informed the new boss he is ready to play in United's opening game of the Premier League season at home to Brighton.
Ronaldo missed the bulk of United's pre-season campaign and cited 'family reasons' as the explanation behind his absence. Yet, with limited game-time under his belt, he has told Ten Hag he wants to play against the Seagulls on Sunday.
Mirror Football understands that Ronaldo has been "flying" in training and held talks with his manager over the plan for the coming days. As for the rest of the window, United have not deviated from their stance that the Portugal skipper is not for sale this summer.
The ball is now in the manager's court and all eyes are on Ten Hag and his team selection as question marks linger over whether he will stand firm and omit Ronaldo from the starting eleven or fall foul of the same issue that contributed to Solskjaer's dismissal.
During the Norwegian's ill-fated reign, Ronaldo made it clear he wanted to be selected for every single game. Therefore, when he was dropped to the bench for a 1-1 draw against Everton in October, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner was left seething with his manager's decision.
According to a Sun report, a source confirmed the iconic number seven's frustration and revealed: "Ronaldo was extremely disappointed for being benched. Ole presumed that he was tired after the Villarreal game, so he decided to only put him on early in the second half.
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"But Cristiano told him that he will tell him when he isn’t fit to play and that he wants to play in every single league game. He also told him that he has come here to win trophies and that United need to play their most important players in all of the games."
Sure enough, Ronaldo started the next two games against Villarreal in the Champions League and Aston Villa at home in the league.
Solskjaer's persistence with Ronaldo led to some claiming he had lost his authority in the dressing room and was now bending to the whim of his most high-profile player. It is vital for Ten Hag's chances of success that he does not do the same or he risks losing the respect of his players before he has even really got to grips with them.
The Dutchman is in a particularly difficult situation given playing Ronaldo could be perceived as a show of weakness, but he has very limited other attacking options as a result of Anthony Martial's recent injury.
