Manchester United can't afford Cristiano Ronaldo transfer battle

If Manchester United fans thought going through the whole of June without strengthening an underperforming squad was bad, then the news that Cristiano Ronaldo wants out of Old Trafford has this summer rapidly heading towards disastrous.

Erik ten Hag will welcome his full squad back to pre-season at Carrington early this week, but there will be no new faces and there will be new uncertainty around the biggest player of all.

The mood at United ’s training ground was miserable throughout most of last season and it’s not likely to improve this week. This was a defining summer for United and it’s threatening to be one that goes horribly wrong.

READ MORE: United reiterate Ronaldo stance amid exit reports

Maybe the only surprise about the news Ronaldo wants out is that it’s taken this long to play out, although in football timing is everything off the pitch as well as on it. Anybody shocked by the turn of events can’t have been paying much attention to Ronaldo’s glittering career.

Yes, the 37-year-old feels a strong affection to United, but he has an even stronger bond with success, individually and collectively, and anybody who thought he would be happy to ease his way into retirement representing a team going backwards with a parsimonious transfer strategy hadn’t read the room.

Ronaldo hasn’t played in the Europa League in 20 years and he’s unlikely to be keen to make himself busy on Thursday nights this season. If there is a chance of getting back in the Champions League then he is going to pursue it.

Maybe part of this is fuelled by the realisation that the United project being directed by Ten Hag and John Murtough is one that will take more years than Ronaldo has left in the game to deliver trophies. So far the