Ronaldo begins training with Man Utd despite making clear he wants transfer

CRISTIANO RONALDO is back training with Manchester United despite still wanting to leave the club.

The Red Devils legend, 37, is desperate to quit Old Trafford this summer in order to join a team competing in the Champions League.

United have no intention of cashing in on the Portuguese superstar.

And they are adamant that he'll see out the final year of his £360,000-a-week contract.

There are reports that they even want him to EXTEND his current deal by another year - in which case they'd let him go on loan this season.

But Ronaldo has reportedly asked the club to terminate his existing deal so he can pursue a move to a team competing in Europe's elite club competition.

The former Real Madrid and Juventus ace, who rejoined United last year, missed the club's pre-season tour of Asia and Australia but returned to their training HQ this week for showdown talks.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner also missed the behind-closed-doors pre-season friendly with Wrexham on Wednesday, although he was a spectator on the sidelines.

Now he is at least back training with his team-mates even though he still wants to go.

Ronaldo, who was United's top scorer with 24 goals in all competitions last season, had been keeping himself fit in Lisbon while his colleagues headed to Thailand and Australia.

Ronaldo's representatives offered him to Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Napoli but no deal has materialised as yet.

And despite recent links with a return to Madrid with Atletico, that has been ruled out by the club while their supporters staged a furious protest yesterday declaring he was not welcome there.

United will kick off their Premier League campaign a week on Sunday when they welcome Brighton to Old Trafford.