Cristiano Ronaldo has been a free agent for the first time in his career, after terminating his contract with Manchester United last month. Ever since then, there have been speculations regarding the elite footballer’s next club. Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr had tabled a deal worth €200m to sign Cristiano Ronaldo just five days back.
It has now been reported by Marca, a Spanish National daily sports newspaper, that a deal has now been finalized between Cristiano and Al-Nassr. Cristiano is reported to have signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr. The deal is potentially worth around €200m per season.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s clubs so far
Cristiano Ronaldo started his club career at Sporting CP, having appeared for 31 matches and scoring 5 goals. However, it was in Europe that he established his name. Having scored 145 goals for Manchester United in two separate stints and in Real Madrid where he scored 450 goals. He has played for Juventus where he scored 101 goals.
Cristiano’s goals for his country currently stand at 118 goals international goals. Earlier this year, Cristiano scored his 700th career club goal in a 2-1 win over Everton in the Premier League. Overall, Cristiano has around 813 goals with only Lionel Messi capable of overtaking or equalling his record. In the ongoing FIFA World Cup, Cristiano has so far only scored 1 goal, a penalty against Ghana.
Al-Nassr SFC’s monumental offer to sign Cristiano
Cristiano’s 2.5-year contract is the biggest proposal in the history of the football world, in terms of the monetary offer. The €200m per season proposal was held up for the past five days as Cristiano’s agent and the Saudi club had to finalize the commercial aspect. Cristiano will not just bring his talent to the pitch, but he is a brand in himself. Hence, commercially his agent did not want to have anything changed.
Cristiano himself did not want to talk about his future until the end of Portugal’s World Cup campaign. Ronaldo had mentioned several times his focus to win the World Cup, which has been his lifelong dream. In a surprising turn of events, Ronaldo now seems to have agreed to the deal put forward by the Saudi club, Al-Nassr. All the aspects of his deal seem to have been discussed between Cristiano himself, his agent, and the club and agreed upon too.
Cristiano Ronaldo will now be the Highest Earning Footballer
Overtaking Lionel Messi and Neymar, Cristiano’s salary at Al-Nassr will now make him the highest-ever earning football player in history. Messi and Neymar had led the way for a while now, both earning 70 and 75 million Euros per season. Cristiano’s 200 million Euros will now leave them behind by miles.
At Al-Nassr, Cristiano will be playing under Frenchman Rudi Garcia who is the current manager of the club. The club’s other notable names include David Ospina who has also played in the Premier League once, for Arsenal. Álvaro González is also currently playing for Al-Nassr, having played for Spanish clubs Espanyol, Villareal and Zaragoza earlier.
Cristiano Ronaldo has only scored one goal for Portugal in the ongoing World Cup. His focus will now be on Portugal’s next game against the Swiss team in the Knockout round.
