Manchester United: Footage shows Cristiano Ronaldo motivating teammates before kick-off | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Manchester United remains incredibly uncertain.

After returning to the club last summer, Ronaldo has been linked with a move away following a miserable 2021/22 season that saw United finish in sixth.

Despite his own personal performances, he couldn’t help lift United towards silverware and has now fallen out of favour under new manager Erik ten Hag, having missed the bulk of United’s pre-season preparations.

Speculation has rumbled on all summer linking Ronaldo with a move away from the club in a bid to play Champions League football again this season, but concrete offers have been few and far between for the 37-year-old.

Per Fabrizio Romano, United are still maintaining in the public domain that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner is not for sale, despite his intentions to leave being known.

However, a move away from the club still feels like a genuine possibility as the summer transfer window ticks down towards shutting. Offers have been limited, but as things draw to a close, Ronaldo will hold out hope of an exit at the death.

There have been many people asking questions of Ronaldo’s attitude and mentality with speculation rumbling on about his desire to leave. The Athletic reported a few weeks ago that Ronaldo was eating alone at United’s training ground, and rumours over tensions within the squad due to his presence have been non-stop.

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It’s a sticky situation for all parties involved. Ronaldo clearly wants to leave and play at the top for as long as his body allows, United don’t want to lose him but can’t find a buyer in any case, and Ten Hag wants to move the club forward and needs to do so without Ronaldo hanging around.

He has appeared in all three of United’s Premier League games so far this season, but started just one of them – their 4-0 defeat away to Brentford.

Ronaldo also failed to impress in the season opening defeat to Brighton from the bench, and only played the last four minutes against Liverpool as a result.

But footage has since gone viral on Twitter after being posted by user @totalcristiano, of Ronaldo seemingly rubbishing reports about his negative attitude and declined rapport with teammates.

In the clip, Ronaldo is actually seen to be trying to inspire confidence in his United colleagues ahead of their game against Brighton, which they ultimately lost 2-1, despite him only making the bench.

At the time of writing, the tweet has been retweeted over 3,000 times and has amassed over 20,000 ‘likes’ which is astounding. You can check out the footage below.

Very interesting indeed.

Much has been made of Ronaldo’s determination – or lack thereof – at United as he seeks a new challenge, but you simply cannot deny he hasn’t tried to instil belief in his colleagues when watching that footage.

Let’s see what fans have had to say in response.

Even though Ronaldo knew he wasn’t starting, he made sure he went around and tried to fire up his teammates who were.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it’s ultimately impossible to tell, but perhaps if United had that kind of mentality on the pitch from minute one, they wouldn’t have lost the game.