Man Utd planning for rest of pre-season WITHOUT Cristiano Ronaldo – with cut-off point at the end of the week
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MANCHESTER UNITED are planning the rest of their pre-season tour without Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Red Devils are in Bangkok where they play Liverpool on Tuesday before moving on to Australia.
And if the Portuguese star has not joined up with them by the end of the week, the club believe that will be the cut-off on him meeting up with the squad.
United play Melbourne Victory next Friday and they believe there is little point on him then flying all the way out to Perth for the games against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa on the last leg.
Ronaldo wants out of United and has cited family reasons for not being on the tour so far.
The 37-year-old is currently training alone in Lisbon.
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The hierarchy at Old Trafford have already accepted they are now fighting a losing battle to keep their star player at the club.
So far there have been no firm offers for the £480,000-a-week striker, who the club would only ask around £15million for with one year left on his two-year deal.
Meanwhile, United are confident of Christian Eriksen joining them in Melbourne as their second summer signing after left-back Tyrell Malacia.
The 30-year-old Dane, who is a free agent after a short-term contract with Brentford last season, is due to complete a medical soon.
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United are continuing to pursue their main summer target Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona.
While the clubs have an agreement over a £55m transfer fee for the midfielder, an issue of backdated wages is holding the deal up.
The 25-year-old is owed £24m after he agreed to a wage reduction during the pandemic to help the cash-strapped club.
Now Barca want United to stump up the cash but the Old Trafford board are adamant they will not and are waiting for the Spanish giants to resolve the matter.
Reports in Holland claim De Jong does not fancy reuniting with old Ajax boss Erik ten Hag.
But United have been given enough encouragement to believe that is not the case.