Ronaldo eats the humble pie to play Man against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday
Cristiano Ronaldo have been line up to face Rayo Vallecano in Suday's friendly
Wantaway Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo has signalled that he is ready to return to action for Manchester United in their friendly against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.
Ronaldo, who has told United that he wants to leave, is yet to feature for the club in any of their pre-season games, but on Friday afternoon he responded to an Instagram fan account with the words: “On Sunday the king plays.”
Ronaldo will be the only star player to feature in the friendly against Rayo.
The starting line-up for the match will mainly contain academy and reserve players as the first-team squad has flown to Oslo for a friendly against Atletico Madrid on Saturday. Academy players like Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage are set to feature alongside Ronaldo in the friendly against Rayo with Erik ten Hag, the manager, set to be at both games.
United announced on Friday afternoon, that Ronaldo was not in a 21-man squad for the match in Oslo against Atletico, who are one of the clubs interested in signing the Portuguese forward. Ronaldo, 37, is yet to play for United under Ten Hag. The Dutchman allowed Ronaldo to miss the pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia due to family reasons.
Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, met with United officials on Tuesday at the club’s Carrington training base after his client returned to the UK from Lisbon.
Mendes told United that Ronaldo wants to leave the club because he wants to play Champions League football next season. United only qualified for the Europa League because they finished sixth in the Premier League last season. United told Mendes that Ronaldo will not be sold this summer, however.
Ten Hag said two weeks ago that Ronaldo was in his plans for the upcoming campaign.
“I have read [that he wants to leave] but what I say is Cristiano is not for sale,” Ten Hag said at a press conference in Bangkok on July 11. “He is in our plans and we want success together. I’m looking forward to working with him.”
United said that some players had been left in England to prepare for Sunday’s game and others were missing the trip to Norway due to illness or injury.
Luke Shaw was another notable absentee from the squad that flew to Norway. New signings Lisandro Martínez and Christian Eriksen were named in the squad and are therefore likely to make their debuts against Atletico.
Ten Hag has made it clear that he wants to add more attacking players to his squad. Antony, the Ajax winger, is among his targets although United are refusing to pay the Dutch club’s asking price, which starts at £67 million.
Another alternative is Benjamin Sesko, the RB Salzburg striker, although the Austrian club could demand as much as £55 million for the 19-year-old Slovenian. Sesko scored 11 goals and set up seven more in 37 appearances for Salzburg last season.
So far, United’s only signings are Eriksen, who joined on a free, Tyrell Malacia, the £14.7 million signing from Feyenoord, and the Argentina defender Martínez, who arrived in a £55 million deal from Ajax.
