Cristiano Ronaldo may well have played his last game for Manchester United and that would almost certainly spell the end of his Premier League career too.
The 38-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and wanted to move away from Old Trafford in the summer after the Red Devils failed to get into the Champions League and he has spent most of this season in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Not only did he miss pre-season due to personal issues - meanwhile his agent was doing a tour of the world to scout out potential suitors for him - he has then been used as a bit-part player by Erik ten Hag. The Portuguese forward has now spoken out publicly on his issues.
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Having left the stadium early during Manchester United's 2-0 win against Tottenham in October, Ronaldo was then left out for the trip to Chelsea days later and received heavy backlash for his decision. After that, Ronaldo posted on Instagram to say that he would address these issues, and he has.
In an interview with Piers Morgan, the five-time Champions League winner was asked if he felt forced out of the club, to which he replied: "Yes. Not only the coach but the other two or three guys that are around the club." He was then asked if this was at senior executive level, and he added: "Yes. I felt betrayed."
Since being dropped from the side he has returned and worn the captain's armband, but Ten Hag still hasn't warmed to him due to the inability to press or play a bigger part in his footballing structure, something that divided opinion.
Ronaldo went on to say: "Honestly, I shouldn't say that I don't know but listen, I don't care. People should listen to the truth. Yes, I feel betrayed and I felt that some people they don't want me here. Not only this year but last year too."
Having already been looking at the attacker, who is Qatar bound for the 2022 World Cup, Chelsea are an obvious link for a possible mid-season transfer. Todd Boehly spent a large portion of the summer asking Thomas Tuchel if Ronaldo was a viable option, and the American is still after his statement signing.
Boehly is already on uneven ground with Blues fans after sacking Tuchel and the subsequent struggle under Graham Potter, but the current manager is unlikely to yield to the aura of Ronaldo either.
"Well I can’t really comment because I don’t know the ins and outs," Potter said before Chelsea faced United last month, days after he left the ground early. "But he’s taken his stance, sometimes you have to do that," he added when asked about how Ten Hag dealt with the matter. "And then you need the club’s support and from the outside that’s what has happened.
"Well it’s difficult for me to comment because I don’t know the actual context, I don’t know what’s really happened, I don’t want to go off headlines and things like that.
"Part of the job is to take some decisions that are difficult, but that’s normal."
As for the player himself, Potter has previously glowed about him, saying last season, "You run out of superlatives in terms of what he's achieved in his career and the player that he is. He's had an absolutely amazing career, world-class, it's out-of-this-world class. There's nothing else to say with that."
But when it came to potentially working with the superstar he was coyer. "Too often we zoom into individuals and forget it's a team game. Sometimes when the team isn't scoring, the person at the front of the pitch gets the zooming in, we've had it ourselves with Neal (Maupay), for example.
"From what I've seen, you still see the quality he has and the quality he brings to the group and the team."
With a true rebuild from top to bottom, inside and out needed at the club it's tough to see where another player in their late 30s fits into the plan, especially under a strategic manager like Potter. If it's not to be Chelsea, then Ronaldo's options are running out.
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