Ronaldo wants out of United because of what he perceives as a lack of ambition in their summer transfer window, and his agent Jorge Mendes offered the 37-year-old to Chelsea co-owner Todd Bohli last month. Boehly is said to be interested in the idea of signing the Portugal international and the American has since held further talks with Mendes. However, Chelsea have yet to show an interest and Boehly, the interim sporting director, is likely to be guided by Thomas Tuchel’s thoughts on Ronaldo, who cited family reasons after not returning to training at United on Monday. Chelsea’s new ownership do not want to force unwanted players on their manager and it is unclear whether Tuchel wants Ronaldo, who has also been offered to Bayern Munich, Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain. The Chelsea boss plans to build a versatile, fluid attack and has allowed Romelu Lukaku to join Internazionale on loan. Lukaku struggled to adapt to Tuchel’s system last season – the Belgian forward didn’t press hard enough and lacked mobility – and it’s likely that signing Ronaldo would create similar problems. Signing Ronaldo would give Chelsea a proven goalscorer, but despite scoring 24 goals in 38 appearances for United last season, it was debatable whether he had a positive impact on the team’s game. United, who insisted Ronaldo isn’t going anywhere and are unlikely to want to lose him to a domestic rival, finished sixth and often lacked cohesion. Boehly will need to speak to Tuchel before deciding whether to test United’s resolve. There is pressure on Chelsea to step up their operations. They remain in talks with Manchester City over a £50m deal for Raheem Sterling, who is in talks with Tuchel, and are waiting to see if Barcelona beat them to Leeds United’s Rafinha. Chelsea agreed a £55m deal with Leeds for Rafinha last week, but the Brazilian winger’s preference is to join Barcelona, who are confident they will raise the funds to make him a suitable offer. The Fiver: sign up and receive our daily football email. Barcelona are also making progress with Ousmane Dembele in talks over a new contract. The French winger has been a target for Chelsea, who must decide whether to keep their bid for Rafinha on the table. There have been suggestions the 25-year-old could stay at Leeds until January and wait for Barca to return with an improved offer. Chelsea also need to strengthen their central defense following the departures of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rüdiger. City’s Nathan Aké, Juventus’ Matthijs de Ligt and Sevilla’s Jules Koundé have all been targeted. Chelsea, who are in talks to send Hakim Ziyech on loan to AC Milan, have received an approach from Everton for Armando Brocha. Everton moved for the 20-year-old striker following the sale of Richarlison to Tottenham. However, Broja, who is also a target for West Ham, Napoli and Newcastle, could be given the chance to impress Tuchel in pre-season.
