MARCA: Cristiano Ronaldo will play for Al-Nassr from January 1, 2023

According to MARCA, Cristiano Ronaldo will play for Al-Nassr from January 1

The former Sporting CP, Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United forward is currently a free agent after coming to an agreement with the latter in order to terminate his deal. An explosive interview with Piers Morgan, where Ronaldo had some scathing criticism with the club, led to an end of the relationship at Old Trafford.

Rumours had been abound that Cristiano Ronaldo may be forced look elsewhere other than Europe for his next deal. According to Marca, the Portugal star will remain in the Middle East after the World Cup.

His contract, as per previous reports will be worth €200m per year and will last for two-and-a-half years, making the total deal worth half a billion euros. Ronaldo will be 40 when that deal ends.

It marks a changing of the guard in terms of European football. Ronaldo has dominated the top of the game for nearly two decades.

The contract that unites the Portuguese footballer with the Saudi team will last two and a half seasons, as announced last week

The forward ended his relationship with Manchester United two days before starting his participation in the World Cup in Qatar, being able to negotiate with any team, with Al-Nassr being the one that showed the most interest from the beginning.

The contract, in addition to the large token (just under one hundred million euros) is surrounded by economic incentives via advertising, which will place the Portuguese as the highest paid athlete in the world. The total number of CR7's link with Al-Nassr will be close to 200 million euros per season.

Messi, Neymar at PSG are the heads of the football poster, but their 75 and 70 million that they earn per season are far from what Cristiano Ronaldo will receive in Saudi Arabia. Even reviewing the list of the best paid in the United States, all of them remain a long way from the money promised to the Portuguese

Cristiano Ronaldo is going to find a team that seeks to recover the lost dominance in its competition, far from the first world level. The step back that he takes in sports is evident, but little by little his football is placing him at another competitive level. He is even receiving criticism in Portugal for his performance during the World Cup, something unthinkable months ago.

At Al-Nassr he will meet the Frenchman Rudi García as coach and he will have the Cantabrian Álvaro González as a teammate. The center-back came to Saudi football last summer after finishing his stage in France. The presence of Ospina also stands out. The Colombian goalkeeper ended his contract with Napoli and decided to accept the Saudi proposal. Real Madrid had him in orbit as long as Lunin had abandoned the white discipline, something that did not happen.