Cristiano Ronaldo's latest Instagram post has sparked hope among fans that he is finally getting to grips with the new way of life under Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
The 37-year-old forward made little secret of his desire to force through an Old Trafford exit over the summer, but barely any Champions League club expressed interest in prying him away from Manchester. In turn, Ronaldo was forced to fall on his sword and stay put for the time being.
Things have not started well, though Ronaldo has featured in all six of United's Premier League games so far this term, he has lasted the full 90 minutes just once. To make matters worse, that one full outing came during the humiliating 4-0 defeat away at Brentford, one of the worst showings in Red Devils' history.
Since then, the former Real Madrid man has played a combined total of 80 minutes across the four league games to have occurred. He did get another 90 minutes under his belt last week, thought it was during another defeat - this time at the hands of Spanish side Real Sociedad in what was match-day one of the Europa League group stage.
It is clear Ten Hag sees some issues with deploying Ronaldo into a system the new manager is finally starting to get a tune out of. Marcus Rashford is currently preferred as United's starting central attacker, something that is unlikely to change given the England international's brace against Arsenal last time out in the league.
Despite this, Ronaldo is in surprisingly good spirits. He took to social media to upload a snap of himself alongside Diogo Dalot and Casemiro in training that was captioned: "Starting the week with a good feeling."
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner is seemingly slowly but surely getting back to speed after he had no pre-season, citing family reasons as the explanation behind his absence from the summer tour of Thailand and Australia.
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It has previously been reported how some sections of the United dressing room felt that Ronaldo's poor form this season was because of the fact he was not present for the pre-season tour. The forward missed out on a period that was crucial for Ten Hag trying to implement his philosophy.
A source told The Sun: "All the players loved it when Ronaldo came back to United last season but they are frustrated he missed pre-season.
"The manager put a lot of work into giving the squad detailed information about what he wanted them to do and how he wanted them to play. Ronaldo is not up to speed with that and is relying on instinct when he plays. But that doesn't work in Ten Hag's system."
United aren't in action this weekend after their scheduled home clash with Leeds was postponed due to a shortage of police officers ahead of the Queen's funeral on Monday, September 19.
