Manchester United are willing to let their iconic forward Cristiano Ronaldo go as a free agent as they heard almost no inquiries for the 37-year-old Portuguese legend, according to ESPN.

Ronaldo missed the Premier League game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in London on Saturday as punishment from manager Erik ten Hag for his refusal to be substituted in the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday. Ronaldo left the stadium before the game was over without consent from Erik ten Hag.

This was not the first tension between Ronaldo and Erik ten Hag since the Dutch manager took over United in April. Erik ten Hag criticized Ronaldo for missing the club's preseason campaign in July. Ronaldo, via his agent Jorge Mendes, kept releasing reports about him wanting to leave Old Trafford even before the 2022-23 season began.

Ronaldo has scored 26 goals and four assists in 51 appearances for United since the English powerhouse signed him from Juventus for 17 million euros (about $16.8 million) in August 2021. He just scored the 700th goal of his club career in the 2-1 win over Everton earlier this month.

German football website Transfermarkt.com valued Ronaldo at 20 million euros (about $19.7 million), but it has been his expensive weekly salary of 500,000 pounds (about $565,450) that scared most of the interested teams away.

At the moment, only Al Hilal of the Saudi Professional League has called United to ask about Ronaldo, according to ESPN. The club hopes that he performs well enough in the coming FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which is less one month away, to help stimulate other clubs' interest in Ronaldo.

The other option for United is to send Ronaldo away in January 2023 on loan, but United will need to shoulder part of his salary to make that happen.