Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo will hold crunch talks with the club’s board regarding his future at Old Trafford.
The 37-year-old Portuguese star returned to the team’s Carrington training ground having missed the pre-season tours of Thailand and Australia citing a family issue.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has been training alone all summer in Lisbon and has been linked with a move to Premier League rivals Chelsea and Atletico Madrid in Spain.
He is expected to meet new United boss Erik ten Hag who wants to keep the striker who scored 24 goals in 38 appearances last season. But Ronaldo is keen on playing for a team that will be competing in the Champions League next season.
Europa League
United finished in a lowly sixth spot to only qualify for the Europa League and that appears to not be good enough for Ronaldo – who earns £500,000-a-week - who is believed to want a move.
His agent Jorge Mendes has been pushing for a transfer for his star client whose future will be clearer by tomorrow. United want to keep Ronaldo and have asked former manager Sir Alex Ferguson - who first signed the forward in 2003 – to help persuade him to stay.
Ronaldo still has a year remaining on his current contract after his arrival from Juventus and Ten Hag has been planning to build a team around the talisman. If they lost him just two weeks before the season kicks off finding a replacement at short notice would be hard and it would disrupt their campaign.
They have completed deals for midfielder Christian Eriksen and defender Lisandro Martinez but finding a striker with the pace, skill and experience of Ronaldo will be very hard.
