Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has held talks with Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent about a potential deal to take the Manchester United striker to Stamford Bridge, reports say.

The 37-year-old returned to Old Trafford last summer with Ronaldo leading the club’s scoring charts in his first season back with 24 goals in 38 matches in all competitions. However, the campaign as a whole was a disaster with the Red Devils only managing a sixth-place finish in the Premier League.

Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane – who all signed in the same window – were meant to budge Man Utd closer to Man City at the top of the table but instead they went backwards, finishing 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham and 35 points adrift of champions City.

That saw reports during the season – and since it has finished – that Ronaldo could leave the club as he had no intention of playing for a club not in the Champions League. Bayern Munich and Roma have been linked with a potential move for the global superstar and Chelsea are the latest name to be thrown into the mix.

The Athletic claims that Chelsea owner “Boehly held a meeting in Portugal last week with super-agent Jorge Mendes” and “Ronaldo’s situation and the idea of him switching to Chelsea this summer is understood to have been among the subjects discussed.”

It is understood that Man Utd ‘intend to keep him at Old Trafford’ to see out the final 12 months of a two-year contract he signed last summer while Ronaldo “does not have any problem with their new manager Erik ten Hag.”

Speaking in a recent interview, Ronaldo said, “I was and still am very happy to be here. I know (Ten Hag) did a fantastic job for Ajax and that he’s an experienced coach but we need to give him time and things need to change the way he wants. I hope we have success. I wish him the best. We are happy and excited. Let’s believe that next year we are going to win trophies. I believe that Manchester (United) will be where they belong. Sometimes it takes time, but I still believe.”

• A Football360 report