Manchester United are increasingly confident that Cristiano Ronaldo will stay at Old Trafford until next summer, according to reports.
Ronaldo made it clear to the United hierarchy in the last transfer window that he wanted to leave after they failed to qualify for the Champions League.
But, it didn’t work out how the United striker had expected with only an unnamed Saudi Arabian club making a concrete offer for his services.
It caused a distraction for Erik ten Hag at the start of his tenure with speculation that Ronaldo had become a negative presence at the club.
But after the closure of the transfer window a previous report stated that Ronaldo’s ‘attitude to training and games has been exemplary’ with the player getting his head round his situation.
New reports have cast doubt on the player’s participation beyond January but ESPN claim that the Red Devils are ‘confident’ he ‘will stay at the club in January because of a lack of interest in him’.
He will look to leave in the winter transfer market if he can’t get a regular place in Ten Hag’s side with Ronaldo hoping to make the most of his last years at the top.
ESPN added that it remains unclear how much of a market there would be for the 37-year-old in January despite rumours of Chelsea’s interest despite the purchase of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The report adds: ‘Ten Hag is understanding of Ronaldo’s situation but would be reluctant to let him leave in January. The Dutchman has already been told it is highly unlikely there will be money to spend until next summer, reducing the possibility that a replacement could be found for the Portugal forward.’
Ronaldo has only started one Premier League game this season, And Ten Hag revealed earlier this week that he is “p*ssed off” when he doesn’t get on the pitch.
Ten Hag said: “He’s not happy that he didn’t play Sunday, don’t get me wrong, but the question was about his mood in training, where he’s happy. Of course, he wants to play and he’s p*ssed off when he’s not playing.
“It’s always about, you live by the day, you line up the strongest team you had, but there are differences and no one is the same in the team. I treat everyone with respect, but they have all different backgrounds, so I have to treat players to get the best out of them.
“When you are here, when you are happy, satisfied on the bench, this is not the club you have to be. Cristiano is really competitive, he is not happy when he is not playing, but I have to repeat, maybe you didn’t hear, he is training well, he is in a good mood, he is motivated and he gives his best and that is what we expect.”
