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Daily Mirror assistant editor Darren Lewis believes Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo will end up leaving the club by the end of the summer.
Ronaldo wants to leave United and continue playing in the UEFA Champions League, a competition the Red Devils failed to qualify for last season.
Interest in the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has been scarce thus far, but Lewis has told BBC's Transfer Gossip Daily Podcast that he expects a departure to occur.
Lewis is quoted as saying:
"Will he be at Man Utd at the end of the window? I don’t think he will. I think there are worse results to come and everyone knows he doesn’t want to be there."
Ronaldo rejoined Manchester United from Juventus last summer for £13.5 million and managed an impressive 24 goals in 38 games last season.
Lewis is seeing comparisons to the way in which the Portuguese star attempted to leave Juve last summer, with the veteran striker playing a waiting game.
Touching on how Ronaldo is going about leaving Old Trafford, Lewis said:
"He’s like the other half and you find them stacking CDs into a box and ask what they’re doing and they say 'nothing'. And then the next day they’re putting books into a box and say 'nothing'. He’s literally casting his net around to see who can bring him in."
"It’s very similar to what he did when he was at Juventus and he had an offer on the table from Man Utd. The difference is he doesn’t have a firm offer from a top European club."
Lewis concludes by claiming that a top European side will eventually catch 'Ronaldo fever':
"He’s not happy. He wants to be in the Champions League and he’s waiting to see if someone somewhere will crack and get some Ronaldo fever."
Cristiano Ronaldo has a year left to run on his current deal and came on as a second-half substitute in United's season-opening 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Manchester United may be better off parting ways with Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer saga at Old Trafford has been a major distraction for new United boss Erik ten Hag at the very start of his tenure.
The former Ajax coach has a huge job on his hands in trying to rebuild what is a broken United side and the one thing he wouldn't have wanted was an unhappy star man.
Perhaps the best course of action for all parties involved is allowing the legendary forward to depart and allow a young side to build off the back of his exit.
The only problem Ten Hag has is who he replaces the talismanic forward with given the lack of options now on the transfer market.
