Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly been forced to eat lunch alone as his attempts to leave Manchester United continue to frustrate his teammates.
The Portuguese striker lodged a shock transfer request earlier this summer amid a desire to return to the Champions League, whilst he has also been left frustrated with the Red Devils’ hesitation in the current market - only three new faces having arrived at Old Trafford so far over the past few months.
So far, his attempts to quit the club have not bore any fruit - the Red Devils taking a stern not-for-sale stance over the five time Ballon d’Or winner, whilst tangible offers for his services have not been forthcoming despite Jorge Mendes’ best efforts to seal a move to a Champions League club.
Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Napoli and former club Juventus are all among those to have been linked with a swoop for his signature but as of yet, he still remains a Man Utd player.
It remains to be seen whether Ronaldo will be able to plot a route out of the club between now and September’s deadline but in the meantime, he has been reintroduced into the first-team fold having missed the club’s pre-season trips to Asia and Australia due to personal reasons. The atmosphere at Carrington does not appear to be positive though.
According to The Athletic, the 37-year-old has been left eating lunch alone at the club’s training base, whilst his frustration during training and matches is clear to see.
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As per the reports, Ronaldo has been spotted throwing his arms about during sessions and on the pitch amid the club’s worst start to the season in over 100 years. The Red Devils have lost their opening two Premier League matches under Erik ten Hag - the 2-1 reverse to Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend being followed by a shocking 4-0 thumping at the hands of Brentford.
Ronaldo started on the bench against the Seagulls but was reintroduced into the starting line-up on Saturday and played the full 90 minutes against Brentford - with little reward. He is yet to open his goalscoring account for the season having found the net on 24 occasions for the Red Devils last season.
Ronaldo cut a visibly frustrated player come the final whistle at the Brentford Community Stadium having appeared to be told to applaud the travelling support before very quickly turning around and marching down the tunnel.
There was a suggestion that should the former Real Madrid and Juventus star’s attitude not improve then the Red Devils could be forced to cancel the remainder of the two-year contract that he penned to return to the club last summer. However, United have since refuted those claims.
