Cristiano Ronaldo has joined his Manchester United teammates at the Lowry Hotel as he battles to be fit for Saturday’s clash with West Ham.
The 36-year-old has been struggling with a neck injury and was deemed as a doubt for the pivotal clash with their top-four rivals at Old Trafford.
Interim boss Ralf Rangnick admitted that Ronaldo was a question mark to be involved, along with fellow veteran striker Edinson Cavani, who was also with the squad at the Lowry.
“Cristiano is a question mark because he has a problem with his neck,” Rangnick told MUTV earlier this week.
“He received treatment yesterday for two-three hours and we will have to wait to see how he feels today.
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“Edi hasn’t been training with the team yet and will hopefully resume training today and then we’ll take the final decision after the training session today, [around] if he will be available for the game tomorrow."
But Ronaldo is at least under consideration having travelled to the city centre hotel with the rest of the squad.
Rangnick was forced to address the situation which saw the Portuguese icon angrily trudge off the pitch against Brentford, having been withdrawn in the second half.
Ronaldo was visibly frustrated, but Rangnick said people shouldn’t make too much of an issue regarding his less than pleased reaction.
"I think we shouldn’t make too much of a fuss out of it," Rangnick said. "I can only speak for myself and my coaching staff.
“I explained that to him even during the game when we had that little conversation after the third goal and, in fact, I told him the same as what I just said in the press conference.
"The job of a football manager is to help teams win games and, for me, it was clear after the experience we had at Villa Park that this time we had to do things better.”
Along with Ronaldo and Cavani, Jadon Sancho and Jesse Lingard have also missed sessions this week, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka has already been ruled out.
Sancho missed the game with Brentford after a family bereavement and a funeral on Wednesday, but was set to return to training for the final preparations.
“Aaron will still be missing,” added Rangnick. “He’s still ill. Jesse resumed back for training yesterday and he will be training today so he should be available for the game.
“We need to see where Jadon stands. He didn’t train yesterday. As you know, he attended a funeral on Wednesday and didn’t want to train yesterday as he is still affected by that. We will have to see.
“I will see him for training today and speak with him after the training session, to see if he is in the state of mind, and also his energy [is there], so he can be available for tomorrow.”
