Fabrizio Romano offers update on Cristiano Ronaldo links to Atletico Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo may be one of the finest footballers of his generation, but right now he is having hard time finding the right fit.

Having returned to Manchester United last summer, things were less glorious than he imagined. After falling out of the top four in a chaotic season for the Red Devils, Ronaldo appears to have decided he wants out and has refused to return to the club in preseason.

Some had wondered if the great Portuguese might make another glorious return, this time to Sporting CP, but Italian transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has ruled that out.

“There is nothing going on with Sporting – this story was a fake news. The situation has remained essentially the same for the last 20 days: Cristiano wants to leave, Erik ten Hag waits to have a conversation with him to try to change his mind.”

Romano gave this update in his exclusive column with Caught Offside. The Real Madrid icon has been controversially linked with Atletico Madrid, as far-fetched as it seems.

“Manchester United are waiting for answers from Cristiano to understand when he can return to training, but Jorge Mendes keeps working on solutions: Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea have been approached but there are no evolutions yet.”

While there is no doubt that Diego Simeone would love a finisher of the pedigree that Cristiano Ronaldo could bring, the other factors around a potential deal make it hard to picture. Not only are Atletico Madrid actively trying to lighten their wage bill, they already have an array of attacking options they have heavily invested in. To say the least, it would take some incredible manoeuvring from Atletico Madrid.