Cristiano Ronaldo not returning for first day of Man Utd pre-season | OneFootball

Manchester United have announced that Cristiano Ronaldo will not return for the first day of pre-season on Monday.

Players who took part in last month’s international fixtures were due to report back to Carrington today, with those who were not involved having already reported back last week.

But Ronaldo will not join his team-mates, citing “family reasons” as the justification for his absence, a decision which the club have accepted.

This comes just two days after widespread media reports that the Portuguese star allegedly asked the club to sell him this summer.

His reasons for doing so are the club’s lack of Champions League football next season and his belief that he has ‘three or four years’ left at the top level competing for major honours.

However, the club’s stance has remained that Ronaldo is not for sale and that they fully expect him to depart with the team on Friday for the club’s pre-season tour of Asia and Australia.

Monday’s no-show at Carrington does cast doubt upon that position and it remains unclear when Ronaldo will report to training under new boss Erik ten Hag.

The three clubs who have been linked with a move for the former Real Madrid’s services are Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Napoli.