With his contract with Manchester United having been terminated, Cristiano Ronaldo is now a free agent who has been offered a lucrative return to football in the Middle East.
Even though Cristiano Ronaldo has only been available for a few hours, he has already received a lucrative offer to play in the Middle East. After Ronaldo’s controversial interview with Piers Morgan, Manchester United released him on Tuesday night. The 37-year-old player’s release comes ahead of the expiration of his contract and follows his claims that he was “betrayed” by the club.
After being unable to secure a move away from Old Trafford over the summer, he is now a free agent and can choose from any club that is interested in signing him. However, many European clubs will struggle to afford him in the post-pandemic world due to his astronomical salary demands (he was being paid around £500,000 per week by United).
Al-Nassr, a club based in Saudi Arabia, reportedly fits the bill. Although Ronaldo was offered massive sums to play in the Middle East during the summer transfer window, he opted to remain in Europe and add to his legendary status in the Champions League instead.
Marca, however, claims that ‘everything indicates’ that he is now keen on relocating to Saudi Arabia. A Saudi club, widely believed to be Al-Hilal, offered him £305 million for just two seasons this past summer, and now Al-Nassr is prepared to match that offer.
The Spanish report claims that Al-owner, Nassr’s Prince Faisal Bin Turki, is desperate to land Ronaldo and make a splash in world football. Like Newcastle, Al-Nassr are owned by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. With David Ospina in goal for Colombia, Luiz Gustavo in the middle for Brazil, and Vincent Aboubakar up top for Cameroon, Al-Nassr is well positioned to continue their ascent up the Saudi Pro League standings.
Ronaldo denied that no other clubs were interested in him during the summer and confirmed that he had received offers from Saudi Arabia. He said of his time at United, “I was happy here to be honest, I was motivated to do a great season here.”
No one wants Cristiano, the media keeps saying. Why wouldn’t a national team want a player who scored 32 goals the year before?
Ronaldo, who will start for Portugal against Ghana on Thursday in their World Cup opener, said that he is still motivated to score goals at the highest level. To which the speaker responded, “It’s hard, it’s hard. In the same breath, he continued, “I thought that I was very happy here; that I’m still capable of scoring goals…”
“I still think I’m good and capable of helping the national team,” he said, “so I still believe I can score many, many goals and help the team.”