Manchester United star player Cristiano Ronaldo watched his teammates as they played a closed-door friendly game against Wrexham which ended 4-1 in favor of United.
The 37-year-old has informed United that he wants to depart this summer, and on Tuesday morning, he arrived at the training complex for the first time since preseason.
During the friendly match, Manchester United’s new player Christian Eriksen scored – in what is his first unofficial debut for the club. The Danish international has had a fantastic start to life at Old Trafford after signing a three-year deal with the Red Devils earlier this month. Fellow new arrival from Ajax, Lisandro Martinez also played in the friendly match.
Martinez joined Man United earlier this month on a £55 million deal which will see him stay at the club for five years.
The match was played at United’s Carrington training camp and got rolling at 2:00 PM BST. There were no supporters present, and the club did not stream it live on MUTV.
The club’s star players like Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, and Cristiano Ronaldo were all spectators.
Eriksen only began training with his new teammates on Tuesday, following their weekend return from their pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia.
Although Man United’s young team initially wanted to play against Wrexham, Erik ten Hag wanted some of his senior players to get more playing time before the start of next season.
Aside from the closed-door friendly, Man United still has two more official friendly games – against Atletico Madrid in Oslo and Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford.
Cristiano Ronaldo is at Carrington watching #mufc‘s behind-closed-doors friendly against Wrexham #mulive [@RobRyanRed]
— utdreport (@utdreport) July 27, 2022
These games will be played on two consecutive days as they prepare for the 2022/23 English Premier League season that will start on August 5. Man United will welcome Brighton on August 7 as they kick off their campaign.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo is finally back in England after he stayed away because of family issues, which made him miss their pre-season tour.
His presence at the unofficial friendly game comes after he had meetings with Man United executives to discuss his future. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has already told the club to release him this summer as he wants to continue competing in the UEFA Champions League.
Sir Alex Ferguson, Man United chief executive officer Richard Arnold and Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes were all present at the meeting. Although the outcome of the meeting has not been disclosed, it’s believed that Ronaldo still wants to leave the club this summer.
In the same vein, Man United are still insisting that the player is not for sale even though his agent is searching for a new club for him.
