We might be on the cusp of a brand new season, but on the face of it little has changed at Manchester United.
Erik ten Hag's appointment was supposed to signal a new dawn at Old Trafford. However, the same old problems remain with an inability to not only persuade stars to come to the club, but keep existing players happy. The troubles encountered trying to get a deal for Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong have been well-documented but an even bigger drama has been the uncertainty surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo.
A year ago Ronaldo made a fairytale return to United. And for a good while it panned out just as he and the club's supporters would have wanted. He made a goalscoring return on his second debut against Newcastle and scored in four of his first five games back.
But as the season wore on his impact diminished and the change of manager, which saw Ralf Rangnick assume interim control following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's exit, clearly affected the side. In the end United scraped a sixth-placed finish to confirm Europa League football for this season but their points tally was the lowest they have ever garnered in the Premier League era.
Ronaldo finished on 18 Premier League goals - by far and away United's top scorer in the league. The next highest was Bruno Fernandes with 10. Given the uncertainty surrounding Ronaldo, United fans are understandably concerned about where the goals will come from if he is no longer in the picture.
Edinson Cavani has left the club after his contract expired, Marcus Rashford's form last season was well below his usual standards and Anthony Martial, despite an encouraging pre-season, scored just once in a loan spell at Sevilla last term. The latter is also ruled out of the opener on Sunday through injury.
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Ronaldo's future is far from certain and last week's antics in the final friendly of the summer only intensified speculation. After he was taken off at half-time, Ronaldo left the ground before the game had even finished. That caused an angry reaction from Ten Hag, who has been forced to field questions about his No 7 all summer.
He told Dutch media outlets AD: “I certainly don’t condone this. This is unacceptable. For everyone. We are a team and you have to stay until the end.” Ronaldo was not the only player to leave with Diogo Dalot among those to also walk out, although he was not part of the matchday squad.
Ten Hag has said that Ronaldo is not "at the level" of his teammates due to him missing a large chunk of the pre-season owing to family reasons.
The United boss added: "It starts with him getting fit because he's only just started. He is a fantastic football player, and he has proved it so many times, but you are always judged on what you are presenting now and how you are performing now. So, the team and Cristiano himself has to prove it."
The elephant in the room is Ronaldo's apparent stance, voiced earlier this summer, that he wants to leave. As yet, no offers that United deem worthy to entertain have been forthcoming. Friday will no doubt see Ten Hag grilled extensively about the Portuguese's future, when he conducts his first pre-match press conference of the season.
Little nuggets of information may well come of the media conference but the proper clarity is only likely to arrive at 1pm on Sunday when the official teamsheets land at Old Trafford.
