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| Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United warms up prior to the Premier League match between Leicester City and Manchester United at The King Power Stadium on September 01, 2022 in Leicester, England. |
Cristiano Ronaldo appears not to be leaving
Manchester United his summer after all. It means the Portuguese star will miss
out on the Champions League.
Despite several last-ditch efforts, Cristiano
Ronaldo will not be playing in the group stage of the Champions League this
season after the Portuguese star failed to secure a move ahead of Thursday’s
transfer deadline day.
Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes had spent the better
part of the past two months trying to get the striker a deal that would take
him away from Manchester United a year after he had joined the Premier League
club for $16.5 million from Juventus.
Ronaldo’s motivation for wanting to leave was after
Man United had failed to qualify for the Champions League following last
season’s sixth-place finish.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said on
Wednesday that Ronaldo was not going anywhere — at least not until January when
the winter transfer season opens.
Asked by a reporter if Ronaldo was going to stay,
the manager replied, “That’s clear, of course.”
“We are on the same page,” he added. “Otherwise,
[Ronaldo] wouldn’t be here.”
Erik ten Hag on Cristiano Ronaldo set to stay at Man Utd: “From the start we said we planned with Cristiano, it was clear. We are on the same page with him”. 🚨🔴 #MUFC
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 31, 2022
“We are happy with him, he’s happy to be here and we want to make the season a success together”. pic.twitter.com/gKGoyaEZ1t
Only one formal overture was made for Ronaldo this
summer and that came from Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal for $244 million, The Athletic reported. Ronaldo rejected the offer because he
wants to play in the UCL.
Ronaldo had been
shopped around to several clubs, including Bayern Munich, Atletico
Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Napoli. None of those
teams, all competing in the Champions League that starts next Tuesday, were
interested in Ronaldo.
Ronaldo has primarily been used as a sub this
season, a sign he’s not an automatic starter and will have to fight for playing
time this season. He is expected to start for Portugal at the World Cup come
November.
While Ronaldo remains a goalscorer, he rarely tracks
back to help the defense and can be a polarizing presence in the dressing room.
At Atletico Madrid, fans unveiled a banner earlier
this summer — featuring the message “CR7 Not Welcome” — as the club’s president
Enrique Cerezo confirmed they had nothing to worry about.
“I don’t know who invented the Cristiano story,” Cerezo told reporters, “but I’ll tell you that it’s practically impossible that he comes to Atletico de Madrid.”
Instead, Ronaldo will have to settle for playing at
Old Trafford in the second-tier Europa League. Ronaldo is one of the greatest
players in recent history, winning five Champions League and Ballon d’Or both
five times.
Deadline day has already seen the Red Devils bolster
their lineup following the arrival of Antony from Ajax. The Brazilian became
the club’s fifth signing of the summer after, most notably, Lisandro Martinez,
Christian Eriksen and Casemiro.
