Cristiano Ronaldo is reportedly pushing to leave Manchester United and join Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the end of the season. There have been rumours since Manchester United dropped the 37-year-old for the derby clash with Manchester City on Sunday with interim boss Ralf Rangnick claiming his absence was due to a hip injury, but there were reports that Ronaldo was not injured.
Ronaldo is believed to have been left ‘furious’ after being told that he would not be in the squad for the clash at the Etihad Stadium, which resulted in him taking a trip to his native Portugal for warm weather training.
Cristiano Ronaldo has decided to leave Manchester United at the end of the season if they don’t qualify for the Champions League, with a move to PSG high on his agenda, FootballTransfers reports.
Ronaldo has flown to Portugal with his future on his mind and, with United’s Premier League struggles to make a top-four spot unlikely, he is planning his next move.
The report adds that a return to Serie A with Juventus has been ruled out, while a reunion with Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon is also highly unlikely.
As a result, CR7 is courting a move to Paris which would see him sensationally team up with Lionel Messi and Neymar at the Ligue 1 giants in a dream forward line.
Manchester United have been disappointing since Ronaldo’s return, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer being sacked in December to be replaced by veteran coach Ralf Rangnick.
Ronaldo’s form has suffered since the German became interim boss, and the Red Devils are currently in fifth, one point behind Arsenal, while the Gunners have three games in hand.
In the first half of the season, Ronaldo maintained his reputation as a devastating goalscorer as he frequently found the target and in big games, too.
He has 15 goals in all competitions since his return, but the majority of those came in the first six months of the season.
By his standards, he is on a dreadful run of goalscoring form currently, finding the net on just one occasion in his last 10 matches.
Messi Returns To Argentina Squad For World Cup Qualifiers
Lionel Messi has returned to Argentina’s squad for World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela and Ecuador, the Argentine Football Association said on Sunday.
The 34-year-old Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) forward missed the Albicleste’s last qualifiers against Chile and Colombia earlier this year as he recovered from a bout of Covid-19.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni also included seven uncapped teenagers in a provisional 44-man squad: Franco Carboni, Valentin Carboni, Alejandro Garnacho, Nicolas Paz, Tiago Geralnik, Luka Romero, and Matias Soule, reports Xinhua.
Argentina will meet Venezuela in Buenos Aires on March 25 and Ecuador in Guayaquil four days later.
The two-time World Cup winners have already qualified for the football showpiece tournament, to be played in Qatar from November 21 to December 18.
The provisional squad:
Goalkeepers: Franco Armani (River Plate), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Geronimo Rulli (Villarreal), Juan Musso (Atalanta) and Esteban Andrada (Rayados).
Defenders: Gonzalo Montiel (Sevilla), Nahuel Molina (Udinese), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica), Juan Foyth (Villarreal), Lucas Martinez Quarta (Fiorentina), German Pezzella (Betis), Lisandro Martinez (Ajax), Nehuen Perez (Udinese), Nicolas Tagliafico (Ajax), Marcos Acuna (Sevilla) and Franco Carboni (Inter).
Midfielders: Rodrigo De Paul (Atletico Madrid), Leandro Paredes (PSG), Giovani Lo Celso (Villarreal), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Manuel Lanzini (West Ham), Guido Rodriguez (Betis), Roberto Pereyra (Udinese), Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa), Alejandro Gomez (Sevilla), Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton), Nicolas Paz (Real Madrid), Tiago Geralnik (Villarreal) and Valentin Carboni (Inter).
Forwards: Lionel Messi (PSG), Lautaro Martinez (Inter), Lucas Ocampos (Sevilla), Nicolas Gonzalez (Fiorentina), Angel Correa (Atletico Madrid), Paulo Dybala (Juventus), Angel Di Maria (PSG), Julian Alvarez (River Plate), Joaquin Correa (Inter), Giovanni Simeone (Hellas Verona), Lucas Boye (Elche), Matias Soule (Juventus), Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United) and Luka Romero (Lazio).