Napoli issue massive transfer update on Cristiano Ronaldo, Serie A club’s stance on Manchester United star explained

With Cristiano Ronaldo having failed to secure an exit in the summer transfer window, the Portugal captain is expected to depart Manchester United in the winter transfer window. Napoli were amongst the hot favourites to grab his signature but now the Serie A giants have denied being in negotiations for the former Real Madrid man. According to Fabrizio Romano (Italian football journalist), Napoli sporting director Cristiano Guintoli has rubbished such claims and stated, “I’m sorry to say that but we’ve never been in real negotiations with Man United to sign Cristiano Ronaldo this summer”.

Ronaldo had expressed his desire to leave United after they failed to secure Champions League qualification. The Premier League outfit initially refused to sell him, but eventually allowed his departure. To make matters worse, the attacker failed to seal a move away from Old Trafford.

The 37-year-old has started only once from United’s six Premier League outings this season, with manager Erik ten Hag explaining that his fitness was the reason behind Ronaldo’s position in the bench. The Dutch coach said, “I will be his friend. Sometimes I will be his teacher. It depends on the situation. As we all know, he didn’t have the pre-season and you can not miss the pre-season, it’s a base. Especially the game we play, the way of play is not the type in comparison with last year.”

“It depends on the demands, co-operation and demands certain positioning, in and out of possession. And the other thing is the fitness.”

Meanwhile, Ronaldo appeared as a substitute during United’s 3-1 win vs Arsenal on Sunday. Marcus Rashford was moved to the left wing, so that Ronaldo could play as the centre forward. He replaced Jadon Sancho in the 58th and Ten Hag explained the move. He said, “It can also do it from the right, you bring in Cristiano Ronaldo as a frontman. Marcus did as a nine and from the wing, he played like Christian Eriksen, a pressing game, he transferred really good, but we expect from him a way of playing as a striker to be the target, drop in, play over, linking, arriving in the box and scoring goals.”