If Manchester United fans thought going through the whole of June without strengthening an underperforming squad was bad, then the news that Cristiano Ronaldo wants out of Old Trafford has this summer rapidly heading towards disastrous.
Erik ten Hag will welcome his full squad back to pre-season at Carrington early this week, but there will be no new faces and there will be new uncertainty around the biggest player of all.
The mood at United ’s training ground was miserable throughout most of last season and it’s not likely to improve this week. This was a defining summer for United and it’s threatening to be one that goes horribly wrong.
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Maybe the only surprise about the news Ronaldo wants out is that it’s taken this long to play out, although in football timing is everything off the pitch as well as on it. Anybody shocked by the turn of events can’t have been paying much attention to Ronaldo’s glittering career.
Yes, the 37-year-old feels a strong affection to United, but he has an even stronger bond with success, individually and collectively, and anybody who thought he would be happy to ease his way into retirement representing a team going backwards with a parsimonious transfer strategy hadn’t read the room.
Ronaldo hasn’t played in the Europa League in 20 years and he’s unlikely to be keen to make himself busy on Thursday nights this season. If there is a chance of getting back in the Champions League then he is going to pursue it.
Maybe part of this is fuelled by the realisation that the United project being directed by Ten Hag and John Murtough is one that will take more years than Ronaldo has left in the game to deliver trophies. So far the five clubs that finished above United are stronger than they were last season, and United are weaker. It’s not screaming ambition.
Tyrell Malacia will join this week but he’s youthful competition for Luke Shaw. Frenkie de Jong should follow but that deal has dragged on so long that the 25-year-old is now missing out on training time at United and with his new teammates.
If United were making waves in the window and looked like a team capable of challenging imminently, Ronaldo would stick around, but as he watched events from afar on holiday he's not seen a statement of intent from his club.
There is, of course, no guarantee that Ronaldo will leave, but there are choppy waters ahead to navigate and the next few weeks and much of the tour of Thailand and Australia will be dominated by the discourse around the forward’s future, rather than the new era under Ten Hag.
United insist Ronaldo is not for sale and has one year remaining on his contract, but few footballers are as powerful as the Portuguese and his agent Jorge Mendes and United really don’t want this turning bitter, if it comes to that.
The dream scenario is Ronaldo sees the arrival of De Jong this week, gets a taste for Ten Hag’s training methods once he’s back at Carrington and makes public a desire to stay. But dreams rarely turn into reality.
This decision can be probably traced back to appointing Ralf Rangnick in December, when United effectively decided to toss a season away to appoint a 63-year-old coach with no experience with elite players, no experience of the Premier League and who had been doing a different job for eight of the past 10 years.
His straight-talking in public led him to the hearts of some United fans, but his failure to make an impact at Carrington cost the club any hope of Champions League football, the finance that comes with it and now, possibly, Ronaldo. Hardly seems worth it for a few press conference barbs.
United felt Rangnick was worth the risk because he would stay on as a consultant and would use his expertise to offer valuable insight and guidance to the club. That role never got off the ground once Ten Hag took charge.
The sight of Ronaldo laughing at the sheer ineptitude of the performance in the 4-0 defeat at Brighton in May should have acted as a warning sign. This is no retirement tour despite his advancing years and he had clearly had enough.
The finances are an issue for United now. The De Jong deal will take up a decent chunk of their summer budget but if Ronaldo goes they have only Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford as potential strikers. Both have had their chances in that role and neither has taken them.
There are very few elite-level options left on the market and any that are available will cost a fortune. It’s difficult to see who United can go for if they wish to remain true to their approach of spending sustainability in transfer windows.
There will be some who think Ronaldo leaving is a good thing. He scored 24 goals last season and without those strikes, United really would have been screwed, but there are plenty who think he unbalanced the team and contributed, in some way, to the downfall.
The problem is United aren’t equipped to find out if that’s true now, because they don’t have a suitable replacement and might find it close to impossible to get one.
There is no way of sugarcoating Ronaldo’s potential departure as good news. United really have to hope this is all comes to nothing and is resolved quickly.
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