Portuguese international Cristiano Ronaldo, without a club since the termination of his contract with Manchester United at the end of November, has signed up for two and a half years, until June 2025, with Al-Nassr, the Saudi club announced on Friday.
“I can’t wait to discover a new football championship in a different country,” said Ronaldo, 37, quoted on his new club’s Twitter account and posing with his new jersey, yellow and blue, stamped with his usual number 7 .
“Al-Nassr’s vision is very inspiring and I am delighted to join my teammates, so that together we can help the team achieve more success,” continued the five-time Ballon d’Or and five-time winner of the Champions League, nicknamed “CR7”.
The transfer of the former Real Madrid player, top scorer in the history of the Champions League, is one of the most resounding in history by the staggering amount of salary, estimated at 200 million euros over two and a half years, and because it highlights an unknown Saudi Arabian championship.
“History is being written. This transfer will not only inspire our club to be even more successful, but it will inspire our league, our country and future generations of boys and girls to perform at their very best,” said Al- Nasr.
Aged 37, Ronaldo has one of the finest records in world football with five Ballons d’Or, five Champions League titles (2008, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018), league titles in Italy ( 2019, 2020) with Juventus Turin, in Spain (2012, 2017) with Real Madrid and in England (2007, 2008, 2009) with Manchester United.
He is also the top scorer in the Champions League and in the history of the Portuguese selection, with whom he won Euro-2016.
But Ronaldo, the most followed personality on the social network Instagram, remains on a disappointing experience at Manchester United, the club where he revealed himself on the international scene between 2003 and 2009 and where he returned in August 2021 after his visits to Real Madrid (2009-2018) and Juventus (2018-2021).
Since last summer, Ronaldo had been looking to leave Manchester United and the arrival of Erik ten Hag on the bench, which limited his playing time, did not help matters.
In a bitter interview in November, just before the World Cup, he attacked his coaches, past and present, his leaders and his former teammates, without an ounce of self-criticism on his own shortcomings.
In the process, Manchester United announced the termination of his contract “by mutual agreement”.
During the last World Cup, his playing time was limited and Portugal was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Al-Nassr, trained since July by Frenchman Rudi Garcia, has won nine Saudi Arabian league titles, the last in 2019.