Ferdinand hits nail on head as Ronaldo's biggest Man Utd problem emerges

Rio Ferdinand believes that Cristiano Ronaldo is worried that the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City are pulling further ahead of Manchester United with their summer transfer business.

The Portugal international wants to leave the club this summer as he is unhappy United will not be playing in the Champions League next season and has requested to be sold if the Red Devils receive a satisfactory offer. It has emerged that the Red Devils will listen to offers for the 37-year-old, who scored 24 goals in 38 appearances last term.

Although Erik ten Hag is expected to improve United's style of play and approach, they have made just one signing and that came in a position where it seemed they had enough strength in depth. The Red Devils announced the arrival of left-back Tyrell Malacia on Tuesday for a fee in the region of £15m and he is expected to battle Luke Shaw and Alex Telles for a first-team spot, with Brandon Williams set to move on.

A number of other players have been linked with a move to Old Trafford, including Frenkie de Jong, Lisandro Martinez and Paulo Dybala, but United remain with just one new signing. Meanwhile, Liverpool and Manchester City have both been busy in strengthening their squad for the 2022/23 season. This is something that could be on Ronaldo's mind as he debates his future, according to ex-United defender Ferdinand.

Speaking about Ronaldo on his Youtube channel, Ferdinand said: "He'll be sitting there, on his sun lounger, on his yacht, on his jet, wherever he is in the world.

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"Seeing Manchester City signing Haaland. Seeing Liverpool signing Nunez, among other players. Phillips has just gone to Manchester City as well.

"He would be thinking 'We had work catching these guys, anyway, before these big signings come into these football clubs and now they are jumping even further away from us'.

"Arsenal are making moves. He's sitting there thinking 'when is my team going to start making moves'. We all know we need some new faces in that building. And he ain't seen no moves."

Liverpool have done some smart business in the transfer window. Fulham's Fabio Carvalho arrived for £4m plus add-ons, Darwin Nunez joined in a £65m deal from Benfica and Calvin Ramsay made the switch from Aberdeen.

That is expected to signal the end of the Reds' transfer business, with Jurgen Klopp willing to wait until 2023 to strengthen his midfield despite being linked with moves for Youri Tielemans and Jude Bellingham. On the outgoing front, Sadio Mane, Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi are among those to leave the Reds.

Meanwhile, City have completed the big-money signing of Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund. Julian Alvarez has made the move from River Plate, while Stefan Ortega has bolstered their goalkeeping options after arriving from Arminia Bielefeld.

Kalvin Phillips became their latest addition as the 26-year-old swapped Leeds for Manchester in a £42million deal. However, Gabriel Jesus has left the club to join Arsenal and Raheem Sterling is close to swapping City for Chelsea.