Manchester United have told Cristiano Ronaldo that he is not for sale.
United were furious about reports that Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes has met with new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly about a potential move to Stamford Bridge for the Portuguese. And earlier in the week there were claims in Portugal that Mendes had offered the 37-year-old to Bayern Munich because Ronaldo had become disillusioned with the club’s lack of action in the transfer market since appointing Erik ten Hag as manager.
But high-level sources at Old Trafford have made it clear that Ronaldo is going nowhere - and that Ten Hag has already included him in his plans for next season. “Cristiano is not for sale,” said the source. “We want - and fully expect - him to be with us next season.”
United broke the bank to bring Ronaldo back to the club last summer by handing him a two-year contract worth £500,000-a-week. His return was supposed to turn United into champions - and he delivered his part of the bargain by top-scoring with 24 goals.
But United finished sixth, 35 points behind champions Manchester City, after a campaign which saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sacked and Ralph Rangnick fail to turn the team’s fortunes around.
Ten Hag has been recruited to bring back the glory years.
But United are refusing to meet Barcelona's £80million-plus demand for top target Frenkie de Jong while free agent Christian Eriksen is still deciding whether to take up an offer to move to Manchester and Ajax defender Jurrien Timber has already said he is staying in Amsterdam.
Ronaldo was apparently impressed with the decision to appoint Ten Hag. But the suggestion is that he is now looking for an escape route - despite chief executive Richard Arnold telling fans last week that money is not an issue for new signings.
It is clear that United are a different club to the one Ronaldo joined from Sporting Lisbon in 2003 and left six years later to join Real Madrid in a world-record £80million deal.
He moved to Juventus before a flirtation with rivals City prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to spearhead a charm offensive to convince the forward that he should return to United.
