Cristiano Ronaldo was part of Manchester United’s tour on Tuesday after the club reaffirmed that the Portugal star is not for sale.
The flash of photographers’ bulbs announced his arrival at 10am as Ronaldo returned to United’s Carrington training complex for talks over his future, resplendent in his £168,000 blue Bentley.
By his side was his trusted agent Jorge Mendes, who has been trying to engineer a move to Atlético de Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Carrington at 10am on Tuesday, accompanied by his agent Jorge Mendes in preparation for talks with Man United boss Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo has missed the club’s entire pre-season so far after being granted compassionate leave and did not travel with the rest of the squad to Thailand and Australia.
Legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson also arrived at Carrington, but it turned out to be for a pre-arranged board meeting with David Gill and Richard Arnold.
The sense of occasion was amplified by the arrival of Sir Alex Ferguson nearly an hour later, but the club’s former manager was officially there for a pre-arranged board meeting with David Gill and chief executive Richard Arnold.
Carrington, of course, is not the usual venue for board meetings and many members of the staff wondered if their once great leader had arrived to play another hand in trying to convince Ronaldo to stay at his beloved club .
That, however, was left to Arnold and manager Erik ten Hag, who has maintained there is a place in his reshuffled squad for the 37-year-old who finished last season as United’s top scorer.
Ronaldo has always maintained that he will be a professional and the proof of that came at 11.30am on Tuesday.
Ronaldo then joined team-mates and new signings Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez for more than an hour as the manager and his staff briefed on what had happened on United’s tour of Thailand and Australia .
Ronaldo, 37, has been working to maintain his fitness but it remains unclear whether he will be a Manchester United player for much longer.
Ronaldo showed off his ripped physique in the gym as he missed United’s pre-season tour
Ronaldo had told United of his desire to leave last month. He has never played in the Europa League during his glittering career and was in no mood to start now; his desire is to move to a team fit to challenge the Champions League. His passion has been to finish at the top.
The timing of his request left many baffled and United’s position has been that he is not for sale and has a contract to fulfill.
Undeterred, Mendes has been courting Europe’s top clubs.
Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Napoli were among them, but beyond flickers of interest and admiration there were no takers until Atletico Madrid, who United face next week, he swayed a little.
They said they would consider it, but only if the Portuguese superstar can be delivered for a reduced salary and no commission.
New coach Erik ten Hag gave Ronaldo a brief rundown of the pre-season tour on Tuesday
Ronaldo should catch up in the training camp to be ready for the new season
Ronaldo had been given compassionate leave due to a family issue and United’s first-team squad was without him during their 17-day tour of Thailand and Australia.
They returned tired on Sunday afternoon to receive the news that Ronaldo would be back. He arrived on a private plane from Madrid at 9.30 on Monday evening and has stressed that he will be professional but still wants to go.
United publicly insist he is not for sale and have dismissed the idea of extending his contract and then sending him out on loan as “nonsense”.
But Tuesday’s meeting with Mendes underscores that something will have to give.
The super agent has indicated that he has been calmed by Arnold’s willingness to listen and willingness to find common ground.
Ronaldo scored 24 goals for United last season, including crucial ones in European games
However, professional or not, Ronaldo is unlikely to be available for United’s first game with Brighton.
Despite posting a picture of him at the Lisbon gym last weekend, it will be doubtful he will even play in Wednesday’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Wrexham.
That platform is likely to be saved for new signings Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez who shared a trip to Carrington with bewildering fanfare as a mere sideshow to the main event.
Ten Hag is unlikely to bring him straight back into the team after Anthony Martial earned the right to lead the attack by scoring three goals in four friendlies.
Anthony Martial has impressed in the centre-forward position during the pre-season tour
Ten Hag said he spoke to Ronaldo before the tour and explained: “I had a good chat. This is between Cristiano and me. What I can confirm is that we had a very good conversation together.
The words that come next will be the most important, but Ronaldo’s presence at the team briefing offers some hope of peace.
Ten Hag have already made it clear they need another striker, even with Ronaldo, as United pursue a deal for Brazilian winger Antony, valued at £68m by Ajax. Such a purchase is not so simple, just ask Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona.
United have already had too many sagas to endure this summer and don’t need another one.