Saudi Arabia Club President: 'Who is Ronaldo?'
"Who is Ronaldo? I don't know him," Al Muammar joked in a video shot by Saudi blogger Ali Al-Enezi on December 16, when asked about Al-Nassr reaching an agreement to recruit Ronaldo.
Then, in an interview with SSC sports channel when asked about a similar topic, the president of this Saudi Arabian club said: "Ronaldo just attended the World Cup and I don't think he can negotiate with anyone for a long time. We're not talking about players outside the club. I wish Ronaldo the best, whatever decision he makes."
Meanwhile, the president of the Saudi Football Federation, Yasser Al-Misehal, confirmed that a domestic club had negotiated with Ronaldo. He said: "We want to have Ronaldo in the league. We want to surprise by recruiting the best players in the world."
In a controversial interview with journalist Piers Morgan, Ronaldo revealed that he had turned down a contract worth $ 366 million from a Saudi club in the summer. Saudi Sports Minister Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal himself also stated that he wanted Ronaldo to play in the national championship, and expressed his intention to buy Liverpool and Man Utd - two clubs looking for new investors. .
On December 5, Spanish newspaper Marca reported that Ronaldo reached an agreement to join Al-Nassr club with a salary of $ 200 million for a two-and-a-half year contract. This amount includes salary and advertising. If true, this number will make Ronaldo the highest-paid sports athlete in history. However, the 37-year-old striker has denied this rumor.
After Portugal was eliminated from the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo trained at Real's Valdebebas training center on December 14 and 15. But according to DAZN, the 37-year-old superstar went to Dubai by private jet on December 16 to continue training.
Ronaldo left Man Utd six months early after a shocking interview with Piers Morgan. He began to find a new destination and is said to be disagreeing with his agent Jorge Mendes, after losing to Morocco in the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup with Portugal.
In the summer of 2022, the 37-year-old striker was given priority to join Real or Atletico after Man Utd could not win tickets to the Champions League. But both Madrid clubs denied this rumor. British newspaper Sportmail said that the desire to continue playing in the Champions League clubs with a high salary is now almost impossible for Ronaldo. Before leaving Man Utd, CR7 received a weekly salary of nearly $ 600,000 under a contract valid until June 2023.
