Cristiano Ronaldo may have expressed his desire to quit Manchester United earlier this summer, but the Portuguese superstar will be at Old Trafford until the New Year, at least, after a deadline day move failed to materialise.
A host of top European clubs have flirted with the idea of doing a deal for the striker in recent weeks. However, nobody opted to firm up their interest by offering Ronaldo an escape route from his nightmare return to the Premier League.
Amid the relentless transfer speculation, Ronaldo has been repeatedly assured that he still has a role to play at United by Erik ten Hag, who has publicly outlined his desire to keep the 37-year-old on more than one occasion.
However, Ronaldo has started just one Premier League match for United this term and has been named on the bench for every match since United's chastening 4-0 defeat against Brentford last month.
And the Ten Hag's latest comments would appear to indicate that the days of Ronaldo being United's main man are over after he was named on the bench yet again for Thursday night's 1-0 win over Leicester City.
"As we said that," Ten Hag said of Ronaldo staying after the match. "It's really early in the season and we have a squad. We have more than 11 starting players, that is what you see now, players now on the bench can play in one, two or three weeks."
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The Dutchman's verdict is unlikely to impress Ronaldo, who has already cut a frustrated figure in the opening weeks of the season.
Ronaldo has seen his dream return to Old Trafford descend into a nightmare over the past 12 months, with United failing to qualify for this year's Champions League campaign after limping to their worst-ever finish in the Premier League era last term.
That was in spite of Ronaldo himself plundering 24 goals in all competitions to keep United afloat last term.
But unfortunately for Ronaldo, his potent record has not made him untouchable in the eyes of Ten Hag, who has finally found joy after a torrid start to life at Old Trafford with a fluid front-three spearheaded by Marcus Rashford.
Given that Ronaldo already had reservations about staying at Old Trafford and playing in the Europa League for the first time in his illustrious career, it's hard to imagine that the six-time Ballon d'Or winner will be content with playing second fiddle in the coming months.
That would have been unthinkable this time last year - but it is the reality for Ronaldo, whose fairytale second stint at Old Trafford is now seemingly destined for an unhappy ending.
