Cristiano Ronaldo will unlikely be the last big-money signing at Al-Nassr in the near future.
Cristiano Ronaldo is set to have a huge influence on Al-Nassr’s transfers (Image: GETTY)
Cristiano Ronaldo is reportedly already using his pull at Al-Nassr to demand the Saudi club try and sign his former club team-mate and compatriot Pepe. Ronaldo officially joined Al-Nassr this week in a record-breaking deal with some reports stating he could be earning around £160million-a-year.
It’s already been a whirlwind start for the 37-year-old from mistaking Saudi Arabia for South Africa in his official unveiling to his debut being delayed due to electrical issues at Al-Nassr’s stadium. He may even be prevented from making his debut for a few weeks due to his two-match ban from the English FA for smashing an Everton fan’s phone.
But Ronaldo has also had a strong impact on Al-Nassr’s social media presence with their Instagram account growing to nearly 10 million followers. And he may have even more of an impact on the squad as a whole in the coming years for the duration of his time in Saudi Arabia.
According to Marca, Ronaldo has ‘already held conversations’ with Al-Nassr officials on their next move in the transfer market. The likes of Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos and N’Golo Kante are being linked to the Saudi outfit.
Cristiano Ronaldo has played more than 15 years with Pepe on the international stage (Image: GETTY)
But it’s being reported that Ronaldo is pushing for Al-Nassr to sign compatriot Pepe as their next transfer. Ronaldo is said to have dropped Pepe’s name in discussions with Al-Nassr officials and wants to team up with the defender one last time.
The pair spent eight years playing alongside each other at Real Madrid, winning three Champions League trophies and two La Liga titles. They’ve also shared the stage with Portugal for 15 years and both were pivotal to their European Championship success in 2016.
Pepe turns 40 next month, but he was still a regular in Portugal’s starting line-up at the World Cup and he’s maintained a similar role at Porto this season. Al-Nassr already have a number of players who previously plied their trade in Europe.
The likes of Luiz Gustavo, David Ospina, Vincent Aboubakar and Alvaro Gonzalez are current members of Al-Nassr’s squad. But the Saudi side may be limited in the amount of foreign players they can sign in the future.
According to reports, Ronaldo’s debut with Al-Nassr could be delayed with the Saudi Pro League side surpassing their foreign player quota.
“Al Nassr has not registered him yet because there is no vacancy for a foreign player,” an unnamed Al-Nassr official told AFP. “A foreign player must leave to register Ronaldo, either by selling or by terminating the contract by mutual consent.”
Every second counts for Cristiano
Cristiano Ronaldo will wear the number seven, of course, at his new club Al Nassr. Photo courtesy of Al Nassr FC
Paul Kennedy
On average it will take you about five minutes to read this column. It’s between 500 and 600 words, and most people read at a pace of about 125 words per minute, give or take.
So bear that in mind when I tell you that in those five minutes, if you can stick it out all the way to the end, Cristiano Ronaldo will reportedly have earned $9,240.
His salary at his new club, Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, is thought to be a whopping $213 million per year. After a few basic calculations, it works out somewhere in the region of $1,848 a minute.
That’s $30 a second and I’ve not even touched upon the huge amount of advertisement and sponsorship deals that are bound to fall into his lap in Saudi.
There’s an old joke that when someone is earning so much money, it begs the question: “Are they actually happy?”
Gag being, on that much money, then of course they are happy. But I’m not so sure in this instance.
Ronaldo is certainly one of the greatest footballers of my generation, and although his best years are behind him, I think he may have been a little disappointed that there were not that many suitors in Europe looking to snap him up.
So instead he’s joined Al Nassr, who currently sit top of the Saudi Premier League.
The team from Riyadh is the most successful in the country. At the domestic level, the club has won nine Premier League titles, six King’s Cups, three Crown Prince’s Cups, three Federation Cups, and two Saudi Super Cups.
At the international level, they have won two GCC Champions Leagues and earned a historic Asian double in 1998 by claiming both the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup and the Asian Super Cup.
Pretty impressive I guess, but for Ronaldo, he won’t be facing the same kind of Premier League or European challengers at his new club.
In fact, it’s going to be nothing more than a Ronaldo swansong to add even more cash to his bulging bank account before he finally decides to hang up his boots, and that’s a shame.
You see for me, I always favoured Ronaldo over Messi in the greatest player debate, but after the way his career capitulated, all by his own hand, at Manchester United, he went down in my estimation.
There’s a famous saying in football that no player is bigger than the club, which was certainly the case at Old Trafford. Ronaldo spoke out against United on national television and not long before he’d removed his microphone, United announced they were sacking him.
But at Saudi he’ll turn that saying on its head as he is bigger than the club. Sure, he’ll sell shirts, put more bums on seats at the Mrsool Park stadium (which incidentally only has a capacity of 25,000), and hopefully will influence some of the other Al Nassr players.
However if you think he’s going there to further his career, then think again, he’s going purely and simply to further his bank balance, not that it actually needs any more, and that’s sad. VNS
Source: express.co.uk; vietnamnews.vn
