IF 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 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 the Reds and it's threatening to be one that goes horribly wrong.
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 the player'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.
This story is from the July 04, 2022 edition of Manchester Evening News.
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This story is from the July 04, 2022 edition of Manchester Evening News.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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