Manchester United: Ronaldo Rubbishes Rumours of Sporting Return

Cristiano Ronaldo has dismissed reports linking him with a return to his former club Sporting Lisbon. Sport TV Portugal posted an image of a car at the club’s stadium claiming,

"A photo circulates on social media that they say is of the Portuguese’s car in the garage of Estádio José Alvalade.Via: Sport TV Portugal"

However, Ronaldo destroyed the rumours with one word in the comments, “fake.”

A return to Sporting Lisbon would be a fitting one as it was Ronaldo’s first club. Portuguese fans would love to see him back in their domestic league and he has flirted with the idea previously, stating he would love to end his career there, as he owes it to the club that put him on the map.

Ronaldo Wants Champions League Football

Ronaldo only played in the Liga Portugal 25 times, scoring 3 goals and making 5 assists before becoming a star at Old Trafford. The standard in the division is not as high as it is in England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany but Sporting is in the Champions League and to play in Europe’s premier competition is what Ronaldo wants.

He is a record chaser and he is currently the all-time top goalscorer in the Champions League with 140 goals. Lionel Messi has 125. The Portuguese star will currently be playing in the Europa League next season if he is to stay at Manchester United.

Messi will be in the Champions League next season with PSG who have made it their quest to lift the trophy. The Argentine is also two years younger than Ronaldo, so has time to break his record in the Champions League.

Ronaldo Has Already Expressed His Desire to Leave Old Trafford

Ronaldo has expressed his desire to leave Manchester United and if he is to give his record some breathing space, will have to choose a club that can offer him to play in the competition. But he is running out of options.

Despite letting Lukaku go, Chelsea are not interested as he does not fit Tuchel’s style of play. Bayern Munich who has just let Robert Lewandowski move to Barcelona are also not interested. The German club are reportedly looking into signing Harry Kane as a replacement for Lewandowski. PSG already have Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

There was a link to Napoli but it has gone very quiet on that front. A return to Real Madrid maybe but with Ronaldo now an out-and-out forward, Los Blancos do not need him as they have Karim Benzema in that role.

It may not be a surprise to see Ronaldo stay where he is and help United get back into the UCL. Eric ten Hag’s side has finally signed Lisandro Martinez and there is still a while to go before the transfer window shuts. The club has room to get some more players through the door at the Aon Training Complex.

The saying goes never go back. Ronaldo has already done this in returning to Old Trafford and despite scoring 18 Premier League goals last season it has not worked out the way he would have liked.

He may have to bite the bullet and put himself second and his club first. He might have to stay and help get the Red Devils to where he remembers they were in his first spell at the club under Sir Alex Ferguson.