Man Utd line up Cristiano Ronaldo reunion in bid to fill £100m void - with Red Devils shunning money-spinning fly-on-the-wall documentary series

Portuguese superstar Ronaldo, who has taken in two spells at Old Trafford over the course of his record-shattering career, is among those to represent Al-Nassr. The evergreen 40-year-old has committed to a new two-year contract in the Middle East that will take him beyond his 42nd birthday.

Ronaldo last severed ties with United in November 2022 when seeing his contract torn up. A falling out with then Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag led to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner becoming a free agent. He will, however, always be held in high regard by United supporters after helping them to Premier League and Champions League titles during Sir Alex Ferguson’s iconic reign.

It could be that his path crosses with the Red Devils again during the 2025-26 campaign. According to The Sun, Al-Nassr are one of the friendly opponents being considered by United. It is claimed that the Premier League giants are “holding early-stage talks with stakeholders while looking into possible dates and opponents”. Amorim’s side have plenty of gaps in their schedule having also suffered a humbling Carabao Cup defeat to League Two side Grimsby.

Failure to qualify for Europe has cost United around £100m, while co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe sees £750m ($1bn) worth of debt weighing heavy on the Red Devils. It is reported that the opportunity to take part in a money-spinning “fly-on-the-wall documentary”, which “could have earned them millions” has been shunned. Alternative ways to make money are now being explored.

Ratcliffe has previously told BBC Sport of efforts to steady United’s ship on and off the field, with a long-term project being overseen in Manchester: “I didn't expect it to be a walk in the park. It's quite tough sometimes reading the press, obviously. But in a way I'd rather the press had a go at me than Ruben the coach. You know I suppose I've stood out there and said 'we can make Manchester United great again' so people are entitled to their opinions. In my view are on the trajectory I thought we would be on. We are in the process of change at the moment.

“We put a new management team in place. We didn't get that all right at the beginning, obviously. But today I think we have a really good management team in place. We are dealing with the financial issues in the club, because the club has got financial issues and we need to address those. Then we need to move on to the squad, recruitment, data analysis and those types of things. So we are on the path we anticipated we would be on.”

The Sun has previously reported on how the likes of AC Milan, RB Leipzig, Lazio and Sevilla - four other leading clubs that have no European football on their agenda this season - have been sounded out regarding potential friendly dates. The plan is for said contests to take place in surroundings that would allow for warm weather training to be taken in - while Amorim and Co also work on building stronger bonds between underperforming players.

Saudi Arabia would fit the bill for United, especially if Ronaldo is involved. There would be plenty of interest in a meeting between the Portuguese GOAT and his former employers. United now need to determine whether a suitable date on their calendar can be found, with Al-Nassr also having to agree to a fixture that would be worked into a packed schedule that already sees them chasing down major honours in domestic and continental competition.