Cristiano Ronaldo Newcastle transfer rumours explained

In the latest edition of his exclusive CaughtOffside column, Fabrizio Romano has discussed the prospect of Newcastle United being in the running for the transfer of Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portugal international is enduring a difficult season at the moment, having to make do with a place on the bench ever since Erik ten Hag took over as Man Utd manager.

It seems inevitable that Ronaldo won’t put up with this for much longer, but it is not yet clear where he’s going to end up, with Fabrizio Romano seemingly unconvinced by recent links with both Newcastle and Napoli.

Responding to the rumours today, Romano wrote: “There’s plenty of Cristiano Ronaldo speculation doing the rounds, and one story stated that Newcastle have decided against signing him.

“Newcastle always wanted to go down a different path with a focus on young players. No news on Ronaldo, as things stand.”

Newcastle fans would surely love to see a legendary figure like Ronaldo at St James’ Park, but at the same time the club’s current strategy of going after emerging stars rather than just the biggest names seems to be working well for them.

Eddie Howe has done an impressive job with the Magpies, overseeing signings like Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Sven Botman.

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On Napoli links, Romano added: “I’ve seen reports that Napoli are now the most likely destination for Cristiano Ronaldo, but that’s not my current understanding of the situation.

“Napoli have Osimhen, Simeone and Raspadori as strikers, so I don’t see them joining the race for Ronaldo in January – at least, nothing ongoing as of today.”

Ronaldo scored 24 goals in all competitions for United last season, but as he approaches the age of 38 it remains to be seen how much longer he really has at the highest level.