Cristiano Ronaldo has spent the summer finding out how having an iconic status guarantees nothing in the fickle and complicated world of football - now he is back at Manchester United for the next stage of the transfer saga.
He finally arrived back at United's Carrington training base on Tuesday at 11.00am - 45 minutes after Erik ten Hag checked in for work at 10:45 and, tellingly, just five minutes ahead of former boss Sir Alex Ferguson who arrived at 11:05 and could be the key man in how things play out.
When he returned to Portugal at the end of last season, Ronaldo would have been convinced a new club would be able to rescue him from his United nightmare.
