Step by step, game by game, Cristiano Ronaldo is moving away from Manchester United; just not in the way that he imagined it.
Given that United’s next home game is against Arsenal on Sunday week, after the transfer deadline, he may have played his final game at Old Trafford.
If so, it was an inauspicious affair. A nine-minute substitute appearance – including five minutes of additional time – featuring one off-target shot and not much else.
Cristiano Ronaldo is moving away from Manchester United; just not in the way he imagined it
United were shown a bright future without Ronaldo when a young Erik ten Hag side beat title-chasing Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford on Monday night – Ronaldo came on in the 86th minute
The Portuguese was dropped and left to warm the bench for the vast majority of the match
His arrival got a big cheer, as always, but as he departed from the field, attention was elsewhere – much of it on a younger, more vibrant United team who had beaten Liverpool in the league for the first time since 2018. A team who, pointedly, strode into the future without Ronaldo.
Earlier this summer, when he made it clear the pictures had got too small for him at United, he no doubt imagined being pursued down the street by suitors and by United, too, begging him to stay.
It is not working out like that. The link with Chelsea went nowhere and there was scant interest from the elite of the Premier League.
As Ronaldo is determined to maintain his record for starting each season since 2002-03 as a Champions League player, he had few options in this country, to say the least. There was a backlash against interest from Atletico Madrid and nothing doing in Italy after an unremarkable spell at Juventus.
But what has truly changed for Ronaldo in recent months is his relationship with United. It is no longer about him and where he is going, but more what the club are going to do with him.
Erik ten Hag talks encouragingly about the part Ronaldo can play because there is no point undermining a potential asset and a player with influence in the dressing room, but Ronaldo is in uncharted territory now.
New boss Ten Hag (right) has spoken encouragingly about the part Ronaldo can play because there is no point undermining an influential player, but Ronaldo is in uncharted territory now
For arguably the first time in his career, his club look better without him – as young forward Anthony Elanga and Jadon Sancho impressed against Liverpool…