Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo 'to reject lucrative Saudi Arabia move'

In recent weeks, it has been widely claimed that the forward is attempting to engineering a transfer away from Manchester United.

With the Premier League giants only competing in the Europa League next season, the Portuguese superstar is said to have his sights set on signing for a team who are participating in the Champions League.

However, such offers are seemingly not likely to be forthcoming with Chelsea - arguably the most realistic destination - no longer having any interest in pursuing a deal.

At a time when the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are said to hold similar stances, the 37-year-old has been left to ponder his options.

As well as clubs from Europe, it has been suggested that there is a proposal on the table from a club playing in Saudi Arabia.

According to ESPN, Ronaldo would stand to become the world's highest-paid player with income of €275m (£233.08m) spread across two years.

United would also receive €30m (£25.43m), a far bigger fee than they would have received from Chelsea and one which could be reinvested into the squad.

Nevertheless, the report says that the veteran attacker will not be entertaining a switch to the Middle-East at this stage of his career.

That decision is a further boost to head coach Erik ten Hag, who has already stated that the club's star man remains an important part of his plans for 2022-23.

Speaking earlier this week, the recently-appointed Dutchman said: "I am looking forward to working with him. Cristiano is not for sale. He is in our plans.

"We want success together. I had a good talk. That is between Cristiano and me. What I can confirm is we had a really good conversation together."

Due to family reasons, Ronaldo has been left off United's pre-season tour of Thailand, it currently unclear whether he will make the journey to Australia over the coming days.

United started their summer schedule with a resounding 4-0 triumph over rivals Liverpool on Tuesday.