A number of Manchester United's first-team squad allegedly believe that Cristiano Ronaldo will again attempt to force a move away from Old Trafford during the January transfer window.
The 37-year-old is believed to have told the Red Devils at the start of July that he wanted to leave the club over the summer to continue playing in the Champions League.
Ronaldo was linked with a number of clubs, but the window closed with the Portuguese still at Old Trafford, and he has been involved in the early stages of the 2022-23 campaign.
The attacker has only started twice this term, though, and he is yet to find the back of the net in seven appearances for Erik ten Hag's side during the current season.
Ronaldo again drew a blank against Real Sociedad in the Europa League on Thursday, and he is currently behind Marcus Rashford in the pecking order for the starting role at centre-forward in the league.
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The Portugal international's future could again be called into question as the January window approaches, and according to The Sun, many of the Man United players believe that their teammate will again look to leave in the early stages of 2023.
"All the players loved it when Ronaldo came back to United last season but they are frustrated he missed pre-season," the newspaper quotes a source as saying.
"The manager put a lot of work into giving the squad detailed information about what he wanted them to do and how he wanted them to play. Ronaldo is not up to speed with that and is relying on instinct when he plays. But that doesn't work in Ten Hag's system.
"He often demands the ball too early in build-up play and drops deep for the ball, but that means when the ball is wide there is no-one in the middle to hit it into. Ten Hag and the rest of the players really rate Ronaldo.
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"But it's clear that the success they have had this season is from following tactical instruction rather than the individual brilliance they relied on last season. Ronaldo is likely to find himself on the bench again going forward.
"And he is going to have to get used to scoring a lot less goals because he is only being introduced towards the end of games when Ten Hag has already made changes which make United less attacking. He needs to realise it's only going to work if he tunes into ten Hag's plans."
Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid are said to be among the clubs to have rejected the chance to sign Ronaldo over the summer.
The forward scored 24 times for the Red Devils last season, including 18 in the Premier League, but he is yet to register in six league outings during the 2022-23 campaign.
Ronaldo's contract at Old Trafford is due to expire next June, although there is the option to extend the agreement for a further 12 months, which would take him to the end of the 2023-24 season.
Matt Law
