Manchester United Refuse Possibility Of Swap Deal For Cristiano Ronaldo Following Atletico Madrid Movement

With his options limited, Atletico Madrid are rumoured to be Cristiano Ronaldo's only potential suitor, and with Antoine Griezmann placed on the La Liga club's transfer list, a swap deal has been touted.

Following his return to Carrington on Tuesday morning and subsequent meetings with Erik ten Hag, John Murtough and Richard Arnold, the 37-year-old's stance appears to be unchanged. 

Ronaldo returned to the Manchester United training ground having missed all of the preceding training sessions and pre-season tour under new manager Ten Hag.

Accompanied alongside the Portuguese international was Jorge Mendes, his agent, the man attempting to manoeuvre a move for him this summer.

Manchester Evening News

Meanwhile, United's position on the matter also remains unchanged; they continue to insist that they want to keep Ronaldo for the upcoming season, with Ten Hag also hinting that he could stay beyond that.

Nonetheless, Ronaldo’s entourage appear to be pressing on with their transfer pursuit, as Atletico Madrid provides a positive boost. 

According to a report from The Times, Atletico Madrid have placed Antoine Griezmann on the transfer market in order to facilitate a potential move for Ronaldo.

As one of the club's highest earners, Griezmann would be an ideal player to offload in order to fulfil Ronaldo's exorbitant salary demands.

The report also states that Ronaldo is open to the possibility of joining his former bitter rival and heading back to Madrid, the City where he won four Champions League titles and four Ballon d'Or awards, becoming Real Madrid’s top goal scorer in the process. 

Alamy

Off the back of this news, naturally the notion of a swap deal has surfaced, with Griezmann heading to Old Trafford and Ronaldo going the other way.

However, the Athletic reports that a potential swap deal involving the two players has been dismissed at this moment in time. 

Enrique Cerezo, the president of Atletico Madrid, even publicly declared that signing Ronaldo would be "practically impossible”.

However, as we have learnt from previous transfer sagas, such statements can frequently be mere smoke and mirrors.

Nevertheless, it remains true that a move for the 37-year-old will be difficult to materialise, with several stumbling blocks that will need tending to before anything can happen.

In the meantime, Ronaldo will continue to train with the Man Utd squad with the utmost professionalism, as per Manu Sainz, who is known to have a good relationship with Jorge Mendes.

Sainz added that Ronaldo was warmly welcomed back and was filled in on the events of their tour in Thailand and Australia by his teammates. 

Ronaldo mainly spoke to the Portuguese-speaking members of the squad, as well as greeting the new signings, before expressing a willingness to resume training.