The Daily Mail 'understands Stoke are prepared to pay a nominal fee for Scholes' services and are expecting an answer from the 34-year old former England playmaker in the next few day'.

Scholes has recently admitted that he is getting frustrated at his lack of football, and that was before he spent most of the Champions League final on the bench.

He is planning to begin taking his coaching badges this summer, and Stoke could be his first job away from Old Trafford.

Scholes is famously reluctant to uproot his family, but Stoke may be close enough to tempt him.

Ronaldo is set to throw United into turmoil and demand a move out of Old Trafford. The 24-year-old forward is a £50m target for Real Madrid.

Ronaldo has reignited the uncertainty over his United future by claiming that he intends to go on holiday before deciding on where he wants to play his club football next season.

The 24-year-old, who appeared to criticise the tactics employed by United during the Champions League final defeat against Barcelona in Rome on Wednesday, made no secret of his desire to leave Old Trafford for Real Madrid last summer.

And although the Portuguese seemingly played down the prospect of another 'stay-or-go' saga by insisting last week that he 'doesn't care' about what happens at Real this summer, his latest failure to commit himself to United has merely clouded the picture once again.

The imminent election of Florentino Perez as Real's new president is unlikely to boost Ronaldo's ambitions of moving to the Spanish club. Perez has identified Kaka and Franck Ribery as his key targets and successful moves for those world-class players would all but close the door on Ronaldo.

Ronaldo returned to Manchester with his United team-mates on Thursday. He is due to fly to Portugal next week to join the national squad in the build-up to the World Cup qualifier against Albania in Tirana on June 6.

Ronaldo insists he will then contemplate his future on holiday before United return for pre-season on July 6.

Ronaldo said: "I don't want to talk about clubs. I want to rest and to go on holidays because I am very tired.

"I've played many games under a lot of pressure. The future? We'll see. My future for now is the national team. We must win to be back on track in the World Cup."

United chief executive David Gill recently moved to quell the likelihood of Ronaldo leaving Old Trafford this summer by reiterating the club's stance that the player is not for sale.

"He is a great player and he is part of our club," Gill said.

"We made it clear last year. He is on a long-term contract with us and I can assure you that [the issue of his future] has never come up."

On more than one occasion in Rome, Ronaldo appeared to go against team tactics, by ignoring the claims of Wayne Rooney and holding onto the ball in an attempt to pierce the Barcelona rearguard on his own.

I am gutted .It was not so much that Barca played great it was because I know we could have played so much better.
If Parks shot would have gone in the net in the first ten minutes it might have been a different game. we were brilliant until they scored then it all went to s***..
On the night we were beaten by a better team.
We should now concentrate on next season, bring it f***** on!!!

A Man Utd fan in Nigeria has allegely killed four people when he drove into a crowd of Barcelona fans after his team's champions league defeat.

Police said the crowd in the town of Ogbo were celebrating Barcelona,s victory when the minibus drove into them.

A police spokeswoman said ten people were injured and the driver was arrested.

Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness has revealed Manchester United have made a 'non-concrete' enquiry for Franck Ribery.

United are among several clubs to have been linked with a bid for Ribery, who still has two years to run on his contract.

Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid are also rumoured to be keen to sign the France international, although Bayern are confident of keeping hold of the winger.

Reports have claimed that United would look to bring Ribery to Old Trafford in the summer, if Cristiano Ronaldo moves to Real.

Hoeness has confirmed United's interest in Ribery hinges on Ronaldo's future, but would want more than the 40million euros being quoted.

"I would really not even answer the phone if the amount would just be �34m," Hoeness told Sport-Bild.

"There was a casual request from Man Utd. But then it depends on Cristiano Ronaldo."

Hoeness has also been critical of the work ethic of Bastian Schweinsteiger, suggesting the midfielder needs to consider if he wants to stay at Bayern.

He added: "You have to confront him with the question of if he wants to continue to be just one of the boys, if the performances he has showed this term are really what he wants it to be in our team.

"The performances of a couple of players are not like their contracts. We will have to think about the roughness of a potential cut inside the squad."