Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo has joined the Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr following his bitter departure from Manchester United.
“History in the making,” Al Nassr tweeted.
“This is a signing that will not only inspire our club to achieve even greater success but inspire our league, our nation and future generations, boys and girls to be the best version of themselves. Welcome @Cristiano to your new home @AlNassrFC.”
Ronaldo’s move is seen as effectively bringing down the curtain on one of the greatest careers in the history of elite European Football.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has lifted the Champions League trophy on five occasions – four times with Real Madrid and once with United, while his tally of 140 goals is the highest recorded in Europe’s premier club competition.
Ronaldo is also Madrid’s all-time top scorer with 450 goals, while he became the highest-scoring player in the history of men’s international football last year – he now has 118 senior goals for Portugal.
However, he has fallen short of those incredible standards in recent months, with a group-stage penalty against Ghana representing his only goal at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, though that did make him the first man to net at five different editions of FIFA’s flagship tournament.
Having been relegated to the role of substitute for Portugal’s last two games, Ronaldo maintained his unwanted record of never scoring in a knockout fixture at the World Cup before watching his great rival Lionel Messi lead Argentina to their third title.
Al Nassr are coached by former Lyon boss Rudi Garcia and count Cameroon forward Vincent Aboubakar and ex-Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina among their squad.
The Riyadh-based side have won Saudi Arabia’s top flight on nine occasions – a tally only bettered by Al Hilal, who have 18 titles to their name.
CR7 salary
The Portuguese striker’s deal with the Saudi Pro League side will run for two-and-a-half years through to June 2025 with the player set to earn total salary of €214m per year once commercial agreements are also included. The deal is thought to be the highest salary ever paid to a professional footballer.
In the official announcement confirming the move, no figures of the deal were released, but sources consulted by this newspaper have denied that his salary will hit an excess of $200 million per season.
Ronaldo is also expected to assume an ambassadorial role for the strongly rumoured 2030 World Cup which Saudi Arabia are reported to be making along with Greece and Egypt.
Harshit1
130
Cristiano Ronaldo's Net worth is €490 million . he just Signed the Deal with Al Nassr of €200 million. The deal runs for 2.5 years. Which means by the end of his contract he will have earned €500 million. Which is More than his Current Net Worth. That's Incredible. I wish You Best of Luck Ronaldo
Fauzisma
89
now we are remaining with 1 real goat all fake Goat are hiding to Asia 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
LM10Rubbosh
58
Guys, please respect Cristiano for all he has done for football ⚽️ he and messi are G.O.A.T.S #stopthehate
malablata
30
Since it was announced that Christiano will be signing for Al-Nassr, I had been receiving lots of calls from FIFA officials, people from England, mostly Manchester United, I think frequent calls from their coach, people from cococola, and some ex players turn pundits. They're all saying almost the same thing that Christiano has ego, since I am one of the respected players in the team, then I just have to disrespect Cr7 and make him less effective to make his time in the Saudi league unsuccessful. I just can't imagine people will be this evil against someone who had brought a lot to this game. Something who had inspire us to work hard, grace the pitch and put up the fighting spirit to do great comebacks. My entire football life had been inspired by Christiano and you can all see that in my game where I fight to the end, no matter how much goals my team is down by. The French media used to approach me too on this but after the World Cup, they had seized and some even tell me to give my all to support Christiano. I am sure that final of the world cup is what had changed the French mentality and this got me thinking how hate is very destructive. I am a black man in a white dominated world, I had seen racism and suppression. I know what it takes to be on the wrong side of hate and never will I ever be a party to treating another man the way I won't want others treat me. When I got benched at the world cup, I was never angry as I drew inspiration from Christiano situation. I said if someone as great as Christiano, who scored 30+ goals for a weak team like Man Utd, entered a new season and start getting benched for trivial reasons, then same hate follow him here, why then do I think I will be treated different. All in all, Christiano had brought a lot to the game, he deserves our outmost respect and protection, not hate and insecurity. - Vincent Aboubakar -