'Unclear with Manchester United' Ronaldo does not attend pre-season tour

Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United.

[AP=연합뉴스 자료사진]

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Bae Jin-nam = Cristiano Ronaldo (37, Portugal), who is known to want to leave Manchester United (hereafter referred to as Manchester United), a professional soccer player in England, will not be attending the pre-season tour to prepare for the team’s new season.

The Manchester Evening News reported on the 8th (Korean time) that “Ronaldo will not accompany United on the pre-season tour.”

A Manchester United spokesperson said: “Ronaldo is not part of the Manchester United squad, which departs for pre-season tours in Thailand and Australia on the 8th.

Manchester United, led by manager Eric Ten Haach, who took over in April, will depart from England by plane on the afternoon of the 8th local time to play a friendly match against Liverpool in Bangkok, Thailand on the 12th.

Afterwards, they move to Melbourne, Australia, and play a friendly match against Melbourne Victory on the 15th and Crystal Palace (England) on the 19th.

The Manchester United squad started training for the new season on the 4th.

However, Ronaldo has yet to join the team training due to family problems.

Ronaldo, who returned to Manchester United from Juventus in Italy in August of last year, scored 18 goals in 30 appearances in the English Premier League during the 2021-2022 season.

However, Manchester United were pushed to sixth place in the league and were frustrated from participating in the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League (UCL) season.

Then there were reports earlier this month that Ronaldo had informed the club that he would like to play in the UEFA Champions League and that he would transfer to another team this summer. Ronaldo and Manchester United have one year left on their contract until June next year.

In this situation, Ronaldo did not appear in team training ahead of the new season and did not follow the pre-season tour, so the rumors of a breakup with Manchester United seem to be getting stronger.

Chelsea (England), Bayern Munich (Germany) and Naples (Italy) are already talking about Ronaldo’s next destination.

Further, the British popular newspaper The Sun reported on the 7th that “Man United have decided to accept Ronaldo’s transfer request.”

However, a Manchester United spokesperson said, “Ronaldo has one more season left on his contract. Ronaldo is not a transfer target.”

hosu1@yna.co.kr