Manchester United players still expect Cristiano Ronaldo to push for a move away in January.
Back in July, Ronaldo told the Premier League club that he wanted to leave after they missed out on Champions League football last season, but his request was rejected and he ended up staying at the club.
Despite scoring 24 goals last season, Ronaldo has started just one league match this term – United’s humiliating 4-0 defeat against Brentford with Erik ten Hag preferring Marcus Rashford up front instead.
However, it has been reported that United’s first-team stars think the Portuguese icon will have his sights set on an exit at the start of 2023 due to struggling to adapt to ten Hag’s style of play ‘All the players loved it when Ronaldo came back to United last season but they are frustrated he missed pre-season,’ a source told The Sun.
‘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.
‘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.’
