Erik ten Hag can give Cristiano Ronaldo an easy Manchester United decision to make

It's almost incomprehensible that Cristiano Ronaldo will be spending his Tuesday and Wednesday nights sitting at home, like the rest of us mere mortals, watching next season's Champions League.

The Portuguese frontman is instead preparing to clear his Thursday night schedule as Manchester United ready themselves for their first jaunt into European football's secondary competition (if they're lucky) for the first time since... well, last season. However, United's talisman may yet harbour hopes of adding a 2022-23 Champions League winners' medal to his mantlepiece.

United's supposed 'title tilt' quickly descended into an embarrassing failure to secure a top-four finish, with doubt now cast upon Ronaldo's Old Trafford future. The announcement that Erik ten Hag will take the reins from Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season has at least given fans some optimism, though there's every possibility that Ronaldo could see the Dutchman's impending rebuild as his cue to leave.

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After all, as one of the most decorated footballers in history heads into the final few years of his career, why would he want to spend them without Champions League football as part of a team struggling to implement the framework for future success? It's a fair question and one that Ten Hag needs to answer.

One of the aspects of the Ajax boss' career that no doubt attracted United to him in the first place was his impressive track record for nurturing players. Such a statement automatically makes you think of managers helping youngsters grow, but Ten Hag's ability to steer the likes of Sebastien Haller and Dusan Tadic — already familiar names to Premier League fans but players who had perhaps lost