Posted in: 04/07/2022 – 13:10Last updated: 04/07/2022 – 13:08
London (AFP) – Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo was absent from his club Manchester United’s training Monday for “family reasons”, just days after press reports indicated his desire to leave the “Red Devils”.
It was scheduled to meet the United players, who were with their teams in the international window, with the rest of the team on Monday.
But according to British media reports, Ronaldo did not attend training, with the club agreeing to the reasons for his absence.
However, the 37-year-old’s absence will be interpreted as an attempt to engineer a departure from Old Trafford.
Ronaldo returned to Manchester United from Juventus last summer, but despite his success in establishing himself as the English club’s top scorer last season, and the third scorer in the Premier League (18 goals), the “Red Devils” were content with occupying sixth place.
United also failed to reserve a seat for the Champions League for the new season and came out empty-handed of any title, which put CR7, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner for the best player in the world whose contract extends for another year, in addition to an optional year, facing the possibility of playing In the European League (Europa League) for the first time in his career.
For his part, United insist that their Portuguese star, who scored 24 goals in all competitions last season, is not for sale, according to reports, with new Dutch coach Eric ten Hag keen to work with him.
Ronaldo won the English Premier League title three times and the Champions League once during his first passage with United for six years, before leaving for Real Madrid in 2009 and then Juventus in 2018.
Ronaldo’s absence from training comes at a time when United is preparing to travel Friday to Asia and Australia for its pre-season tour.
© 2022 AFP