Cristiano Ronaldo tells Manchester United he wants to leave

Cristiano Ronaldo has told Manchester United he wants to leave because he does not believe the club can win the Premier League next season and he wants to play in the Champions League.

Ronaldo had hoped to see more ambition from United at the start of Erik ten Hag’s tenure as manager and is dismayed that the club have not yet made a signing. United still hope to convince the 37-year-old to stay, not least with their work in the transfer market in the coming days and weeks. However, He has no agreement to join another club. His agent, Jorge Mendes, has been exploring options for weeks, with Chelsea and Bayern Munich among the clubs he has talked to, and will continue to look for destinations for the Portugal international but there are no advanced negotiations.

The loss of Ronaldo would be a blow to United, partly because he scored 14 more goals than any other player at the club last season – Bruno Fernandes was second on that list – but also because this episode is the latest damning signal of their decline. Ronaldo has played in the Champions League each season since his first move to United in 2003 and has won it five times, though not since 2018.