Where Cristiano Ronaldo ends up by September 1 remains a mystery.
The Manchester United star's ambitions have been clear since United missed out on top four qualification in the Premier League last term. Since Europa League football was secured on the last day against Crystal Palace despite the defeat, his super agent Jorge Mendes has been hard at work to find his client another move to satisfy his Champions League needs.
Amid links to all of Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Sporting Lisbon and a few others, new United boss Erik ten Hag has remained adamant that the 37-year-old is in his plans for the upcoming campaign. It is expected that if Ronaldo was to stay put at Old Trafford for one more season at the very minimum, he will miss the start of the season due to his absence from pre-season which has been put down to 'family reasons.'
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The Blues had a chance to sign the Premier League star after new owner Todd Boehly met up with Mendes in Portugal a month or so ago but manager Tuchel decided to opt against this plan, football.london understands.
Whilst there is no clear indication as to whether Tuchel will do a U-turn on his stance amid his recent attacking comments after the Arsenal defeat, there is certainly a chance that Mendes could once again propose the question to Chelsea following the news that Timo Werner is likely to depart before the end of the window with all of Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig sniffing around.
"We know they have been offered a chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo. It's something that Jorge Mendes discussed with Chelsea but Thomas Tuchel said no 10-15 days ago," Fabrizio Romano updated on the most recent Que Golazo podcast.
"He didn't want to proceed on this opportunity, so I'm sure that Mendes will insist again with Chelsea, Bayern and Atletico Madrid until the end of the market but at the moment, it is still like this."
With Ronaldo currently undergoing crunch talks with Ralf Rangnick's permanent successor, the rumour is that he will ask to leave and if this was to happen, Chelsea could yet reappear back into the picture. Although, a former Blues player agrees with Tuchel that CR7 would be a 'poor' acquisition for a team who aim to play a fluid and high-press system.
“I think Ronaldo would be even more of a poor fit than Lukaku was for Chelsea," Pat Nevin told BonusCodeBets. "When Lukaku signed last season, people thought he would be the missing link but I thought by signing him, Thomas Tuchel was throwing his style of play out the window, if indeed it was Thomas who signed him! It didn’t make sense to me.
“While Ronaldo scores a lot of goals, off the ball you are almost playing with ten men which you cannot do in the Premier League and be competitive. Some Chelsea fans may love it, but there have been some cases over the years around Chelsea which have made them look like a circus. If they are trying to catch Man City, they can’t be a circus. If he is going to join, he has to be told he won’t play every game and may only play 45 minutes but he has to work for the team. If he does, he could then be a brilliant signing for Chelsea.”
Chelsea fans - Would you take Cristiano Ronaldo at this stage of the transfer window with no new attacking signings imminent? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
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