Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly will stay with Manchester United amid rumors

For an interview earlier this month, superstar Cristiano Ronaldo explained he was "very happy" to remain with Premier League club Manchester United and work with newly appointed manager Erik ten Hag even though United missed out on next season's UEFA Champions League competition. 

That, however, was before rumors mentioned by outlets such as TalkSPORT emerged this week claiming that the 37-year-old might be losing faith in the project over a lack of big-name summer transfers. Sky Sports has since delivered an update on the situation and said on Friday that Ronaldo "is expected to stay" with United "and will report back for preseason training at the beginning of July." 

Spanish outlet AS had linked CR7 with a potential move to Bayern Munich, but Sky in Germany poured cold water over that story. 

"When the transfer window is open, it's normal that we talk about Cristiano Ronaldo. Manchester United are not in the Champions League next season and Ronaldo is unhappy about this," Portuguese football expert Pedro Sepulveda told Sky Sports about rumors regarding Ronaldo's potential exit from Manchester. "He is completely obsessed with playing in the competition so he's not living well with the reality that he's not going to be playing in it in the immediate future.

"He's spoken to his agent Jorge Mendes, who is seeing if there are any other options. He said he would speak to the clubs who are targeting winning the Champions League to see what could be done in terms of a change in this summer transfer window."

However, it was reported Thursday that Brentford midfielder Christian Eriksen has narrowed his options down to staying with his current employer for a full season or joining United on what's been said to be a "more financially lucrative" deal. Landing the 30-year-old Danish maestro could help United convince Ronaldo they're serious about contending for more than just a top-four finish in the Premier League table in 2022-23. 

Ronaldo tallied 24 goals across all competitions last season.