Manchester United have been urged to let striker Cristiano Ronaldo leave the club by their all-time top-scorer Wayne Rooney as Chelsea continue to circle the situation with intrigue.
The former Red Devils striker has given his opinion on one of the transfer sagas of the summer as United fight to retain their 37-year-old forward despite his attempts to move on from Old Trafford for a second time.
The Portuguese attacker has made his desire to leave public although new manager Erik ten Hag reiterates that he isn't for sale, and Chelsea have been monitoring the mood around Ronaldo with Todd Boehly meeting the player's agent Jorge Mendes earlier in the window.
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The American co-owner wants to bring in another statement signing this summer and Thomas Tuchel's side laboured once more in attack despite victory over Everton, and the longer Ronaldo's future is up in the air, the more sense it could make for Chelsea to go in with a serious offer.
In his column in the Times, Rooney wrote: "I think United should let Cristiano Ronaldo go. It’s not that Ronaldo can’t play in a Ten Hag team. He can play in any team. Ronny will always score you goals. But my personal view is that United aren’t ready to challenge for the title now, so the aim has to be to build a team that can win the league in the next three to four years, and you have to plan for that.
"If the reports are true that Cristiano wants to leave the club, then United should allow him to go and get a No.9 in who is going to be there for the next three or four years and really help them build a team that can be successful. Ten Hag, inset, has to be given time to do it.
"I know one thing Ten Hag has tried to change is the day-to-day environment, and that has been a real positive for everyone. When Ralf Rangnick was in charge a lot of the players found it difficult to come to terms with the lack of structure to the week and Ten Hag has addressed this."
Rooney himself was in a similar situation in 2013. With his contract running down and Sir Alex Ferguson out of the club, the former-Derby County manager pushed for a transfer to Jose Mourinho and Chelsea. He ended up staying and signing a bumper deal in Manchester instead, but the general feeling this summer has been that United should let their main striker go, even though the number of clubs that could realistically sign him is very small.
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