Transfer News: Boost for Chelsea as Cristiano Ronaldo will not travel for pre-season with Manchester United
Chelsea have been handed a boost in their pursuit of Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo, as the Portuguese will not travel for pre-season. This is according to renowned journalist Fabrizio Romano (h/t football.london), who said that the 37-year-old will not be part of Erik ten Hag’s squad that travels to Bangkok for their pre-season tour.
Ronaldo had communicated his decision to leave and had asked United to accept any suitable offer that comes for him. United, on the other hand, are not willing to part ways with their star man, who returned to the side after leaving them in 2009 for Real Madrid.
The Blues had been tipped as one of the destinations for the goal-scoring machine and given this update, the Blues fanbase can think that there is something fishy going on behind the scenes.
It seems too much of a coincidence that he has missed a couple of days of training at Man Utd and is now not going on their pre-season tour with them. It is perhaps a telling sign, because he is their megastar who would draw crowds to fill up stadiums.
Ronaldo had a very disappointing homecoming when it comes to his team’s performance, where he failed to win a trophy with United and finished sixth in the table despite being their top goal-scorer.
A controversial move
Thomas Tuchel is currently overseeing a major overhaul of his squad. Senior players like Antonio Rudiger and Romelu Lukaku have departed, and some more could too. The defence is in shambles and so is the attack.
It was an open-secret last season that Chelsea’s attack lacked the threat in front of the goal. Tuchel rotated his attackers in different positions, but all gave the same outcome. Signing Ronaldo could help change that, especially in the short term.
A clinical centre-forward, he could help lessen the woes of the West London side. At Chelsea, he would get a club that would consider themselves very strong contenders for the biggest trophies next season- not to mention, they will be playing in the UEFA Champions League.
Should this move go through, it is no doubt it will create a huge hype. This could be the news of the summer window and newspapers will likely talk about it for months to come. However, Chelsea must assess all their options and then make any move if they wish to.
More Chelsea News
- Transfer News: Barcelona want to lure Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso from Chelsea for €20M
- Chelsea make enquiry about Cristiano Ronaldo transfer situation at Manchester United
- Juventus reveal their stance regarding the transfer of Chelsea target Matthijs de Ligt
Ronaldo is not young anymore, would be a big name to have on the wage bill, and at his age, cannot be expected to press like a monster up front.