Cristiano Ronaldo Is ‘Close to Agreeing £62MILLION-A-Year Contract at Saudi Arabia Giants Al Nassr’

Cristiano Ronaldo has allegedly agreed to a contract of £172.9 million per year with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

The 37-year-contract old’s with Manchester United was terminated earlier this month, after a rocky relationship with club executives that only worsened when he made a series of inflammatory remarks in a TV interview with Piers Morgan.

And now, according to Spanish tabloid Marca, Ronaldo has signed a two-and-a-half year contract with Al Nassr earning an eye-watering £172.9 million per year that will keep him playing until the age of 40.

According to sources close to the former Real Madrid and Juventus superstar, no agreement has been signed and Ronaldo is still concentrating on the World Cup with his nation, although rumors in Spain indicate the ‘dizzying sums’ have been negotiated.

The Portugal international wanted to leave Old Trafford in the summer, but he was unable to do so because he was keen to play Champions League football.

The former Real Madrid player turned down a transfer to Saudi Arabia last summer, but with no definite interest from Europe’s premier teams, he now appears likely to make the move to the Middle East.

Al-Nassr is one of the most successful teams in Saudi Arabia, having won the country’s top division nine times, the most recent victory being in 2019.

Al-Nassr did not win the league in either 2020 or 2021, but they did win the Saudi Super Cup.

On the other hand, the club has failed to build a name for itself on the world stage, but they did play in the Club World Cup in the 1999-2000 season.

They lost 3-1 to Real Madrid in their group that year, with Nicolas Anelka and Raul scoring for the Spanish giants.

They went on to defeat Raja Casablanca 4-3, but were defeated 2-0 by Brazilian team Corinthians, denying them a berth in the competition’s final rounds.

Rudi Garcia, a former Roma, Marseille, and Lyon coach, is presently in charge of Al-Nassr.

The Saudi heavyweights also boast a few previous big-name talents in the shape of former Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina, Brazilian midfielder Luiz Gustavo, and Cameroon attacker Vincent Aboubakar, who scored a contender for goal of the tournament earlier this week in the Qatar World Cup.

They play at Mrsool Park, which has a capacity of 25,000, a significant fall from the 74,310 at Old Trafford.

Musalli Almuammar, their chairman, was formerly the head of the whole division, the Saudi Pro League, from March 2018 until March 2020.

He is presently an advisor to the General Entertainment Authority, a government agency in Saudi Arabia that governs the entertainment sector.

Some of the club’s past managers may also attract your attention, including World Cup champion Fabio Cannavaro, who led the team for four months between October 2015 and February 2016 before leaving.

Meanwhile, Rene Higuita, a Colombian legend, served as the club’s goalkeeping coach from 2011 until 2016.

Higuita made one of the most spectacular saves in history in 1995, when he used a scorpion kick to save Jamie Redknapp’s mishit attempt for England at Wembley.

Another significant aspect for Ronaldo might be that Al-backroom Nassr’s staff is claimed to be primarily composed of Portuguese, with eight of the twelve members being Portuguese.

According to the same claim, no team in Europe or the MLS could afford to provide anything close to such a lavish offer.

Earlier this month, Sportsmail exclusively announced that Ronaldo will say goodbye to £16 million when it was confirmed that he had departed Manchester United by mutual agreement with immediate effect following his explosive two-part interview with Morgan on TalkTV.

His departure sparked much conjecture, but Premier League rivals Chelsea have also cooled their interest in Ronaldo following his explosive interview in which he blasted United’s owner and manager Erik ten Hag.

Earlier this week, Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn also ruled out a move for Ronaldo.

‘We have already dealt with this,’ Kahn told Sky Sport Germany. ‘We have a clear idea, a clear philosophy of how our squad should be put together.

‘We all appreciate him, there’s no discussion.

‘We all love Cristiano Ronaldo, but that’s something that doesn’t fit into our idea.’
Former Manchester United teammate Gary Neville previously endorsed Ronaldo in a “cameo role” at a prominent European club.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo is going to be looking for a top club on a four/five-month contract where he can go in and do a brilliant cameo role at the very elite of European football. That’s what I think his priority will be,’ Neville told Sky Sports in Qatar.

‘Stay in the Champions League, stay at the very top and prove what happened at Manchester United isn’t right.

‘I still think he has four or five great months in him somewhere and he will go in, score 15/20 goals in that period, everybody in Manchester will say ‘why didn’t we keep him’, the Premier League will as well.’

On the other hand, Ronaldo is still focused on the World Cup in Qatar, where he hopes to assist Portugal win their group when they meet South Korea on Friday afternoon.

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