Cristiano Ronaldo finished up staying at Manchester United this summer, but the Crimson Devils had a contingency system in place in case he left on transfer deadline working day.
Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes labored tricky to uncover the participant a new club that would play in the Champions League this season next United’s failure to qualify, and new manager Erik ten Hag was privately open up to him leaving.
Jorge Mendes hoping to get Ronaldo out of Manchester 🚜 pic.twitter.com/Q2FS9d46BA
— Soccer Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) July 31, 2022
In the stop, no go materialised, with Atletico Madrid and Sporting Lisbon not able to afford his transfer and Napoli later admitting that their fascination was never that concrete. United had been convinced he might leave right up until the ultimate minute, nevertheless, and they focused a Strategy B.
Espanyol star Raul de Tomas was pegged as the person to replace Ronaldo’s goals, the Real Madrid academy graduate owning bagged 17 in 34 La Liga games for Espanyol past season.
De Tomas has since fallen out with his manager
“De Tomas has been open to leaving Espanyol immediately after disagreements with new manager Diego Martinez,” report Soccer Insider. “He has left him out of the matchday squad in the opening three La Liga online games of the season.
“The ahead was eager to join United, but a deal could not be agreed following deadline-day talks.”
De Tomas is ranked at €21 million by Football Transfers innovative inhouse algorithm, but Espanyol were decided to generate his value up better with United’s desire coming so late in the transfer window.
Alternatively, Ten Hag repurposed Marcus Rashford as a centre-forward, with the England international scoring 3 goals and giving two assists in his 6 Premier League video games so considerably this season.
Ronaldo has been subjected to just a single commence and five substitute appearances and is still to open his account this season owning scored a team-significant 18 league goals last time period.
United could occur back in for De Tomas in January, although his agreement isn’t going to expire right up until summertime 2026 so they would nonetheless have to pay up for him.
