Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent is reportedly ‘fighting a losing battle’ in trying to get the Manchester United star to stay at Old Trafford beyond this summer.
Ronaldo played no part in the derby against Manchester City and was a totally unexpected omission from United’s squad to face City at last weekend’s much-antipated derby between the bitter Manchester rivals.
Interim German manager Ralf Rangnick later explained that Ronaldo had aggravated a hip flexor injury, but subsequent reports post-match soon emerged that the forward had in fact been overlooked by the United boss to start against City.
Far from being the fairytale return that had been expected by both the globally-venerated player and the club, Ronaldo’s homecoming had been spontaneously heralded by United fans last summer.
Despite scoring 15 goals in all competitions, including six in as many games in the Champions League, he’s come under some scrutiny for his performances in the Premier League.
Yet realistically it now appears as though Ronaldo’s return to United could be a shortlived one as rumors have been increasingly rife of late with regards to a move away from Old Trafford being most likely.
The Sun reports that the superstar is still infuriated with his boss for telling him that he would be used as a super-sub against City. This was probably the affront to the Portuguese forward’s reputation and his ego that he he couldn’t accept and the report claims that it was Ronaldo himself who had then announced he was suffering from a recurrent hip flexor injury problem which saw him being left out of the matchday squad entirely.
Ronaldo subsequently made an independent decision to take an unsanctioned trip to Portugal, with further reports now emerging that he had been engaged in talks with his agent, Jorge Mendes.
Allegedly Mendes has not had any success so far in trying to ‘calm Ronaldo down’ over his supposed Manchester derby snub as the latter is now ‘increasingly intent’ on leaving this summer. Apparently the United hierarchy is fully aware of the superstar forward’s intentions.
The 37-year-old former Real Madrid and Juventus superstar had earlier committed himself to a two-year contract when he made his then promising comeback to United last summer in a mega blockbuster transfer that was grandly celebrated by his hordes of United fans.
But now an exit looks imminent should United fail to produce the goods to land a place inside the top four as it now seems almost certain that Ronaldo himself will be the one to force a move to leave for greener pastures. One would of course also question his own accountability in the whole issue insofar as the team’s performance is concerned.
The Red Devils are currently trailing the Gunners by one point in the race for the top four and a Champions League spot for next season, but Mikel Arteta’s side seems to have a likely advantage with three games still in hand. There’s hence a possibility United could drop as low as seventh this weekend if they were to lose to Tottenham, which isn’t totally unlikely as Antonio Conte’s men seem to be on the upsurge lately.
As for the ensuing fiasco regarding his Portuguese diva’s supposed hip injury and his unsanctioned trip to Portugal, Rangnick has countered insinuations that Ronaldo’s hip problem, which forced him to miss the Manchester derby, was fake.
In other words – hips don’t lie. Or at least not Ronaldo’s.