Cristiano Ronaldo is going to finish in Saudi Arabia

The famous Portuguese football player Cristiano Ronaldo is one step away from signing a contract with the Saudi football club An-Nasr. A full medical examination has already been “booked” for the player. It usually precedes the signing of a contract. If the deal does not fall through, then Cristiano Ronaldo will receive about €500 million over the next two and a half seasons, according to Marca. And there will also be income for playing the role of a sports ambassador for Saudi Arabia, which claims to host the 2030 World Cup.

The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo from European club football is likely to happen soon. According to a number of European publications, including Sky Sports, Marca, Daily Mail, everything is ready for this, and in the near future Cristiano Ronaldo will sign a contract with the Saudi club An-Nasr. According to Marca, An-Nasr management has already ordered a medical examination for Cristiano Ronaldo. This is a standard procedure prior to the signing of a contract.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract with An-Nasr could become a record in the history of football, and the player’s annual income could reach €200 million.

At the moment, the record in the history of football is the agreement that was in force in 2017-2021 between Barcelona and Lionel Messi. According to him, the Argentine striker, taking into account all possible bonuses, earned about €555 million (about €111 million per year).

However, as reported CBS, the scheme negotiated by the parties is somewhat more complicated. She suggests that Cristiano Ronaldo will sign a contract for two and a half seasons and will receive a guaranteed salary of €65 million per season.

To reach the said €200 million per season, the Portuguese will need to achieve other goals. In fact, we are talking about bonuses for promoting the club’s brand, creating a positive image of Saudi Arabia, etc.

In addition, the agreement provides that Cristiano Ronaldo, having already completed his playing career, will remain the sports ambassador of Saudi Arabia until 2030. The latter, together with Egypt and Greece, claims the right to host the 2030 World Cup.

At the moment, 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo is a player without a club. In November, the Portuguese, who played for Manchester United, spoke in an interview with well-known British TV presenter Piers Morgan about the disrespect he has for the team’s head coach Erik ten Hag. Soon followed by a statement from Manchester about the termination of the contract with Cristiano Ronaldo by agreement of the parties. That is, the forward is free to join any team of his choice.

Note that Cristiano Ronaldo himself previously reported contacts with Saudi structures. In the mentioned interview Pier Morgan Cristiano Ronaldo said that back in the summer of 2021, before he agreed to the transfer from Juventus to Manchester United, he could end up in Saudi Arabia, from where he received an offer of € 350 million (Al -Hilal, An-Nasr’s main competitor), but chose Manchester United because he was sure he could still achieve a lot in Europe. But after the high-profile “divorce” with Manchester and the inexpressive performance at the World Cup that followed (the Portuguese dropped out already in the first round of the play-offs, and Cristiano Ronaldo himself did not even have a guaranteed place in the starting lineup), and also due to the reluctance of top European clubs to hire age forward Cristiano Ronaldo, in fact, had no choice. He needs to either agree to a transfer to a European club that is not one of the giants, or just go after the money. The contract with the Saudi team in this sense is very suitable.

Alexander Petrov