Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo poses for a photo in a jersey after signing for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr football club in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 30, 2022.
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Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo joins Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr on a deal that can keep him playing until June 2025.
“History within the making,” Al Nassr FC wrote in a Twitter post on its official English-language account.
“That is a transfer that won’t only encourage our club to be much more successful, but will encourage our league, our nation and future generations, girls and boys, to be one of the best version of themselves. Welcome Cristiano to his recent home, AlNassrFC.”
The Saudi club quoted Ronaldo as saying he “desired to experience a recent football league out of the country”.
The 37-year-old Portugal captain is a free agent after leaving major British club Manchester United following a dramatic conflict with some members of its management.
The news of Ronaldo’s signing on Friday followed months of rumors and speculation about whether he would join the Saudi team as a couple of made sizable bids within the a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of dollars.
In the summertime, Ronaldo turned down a suggestion from one other Saudi club, Al Hilal, which might have given him an estimated $370 million contract over several years. At one point, he decided to remain at Manchester United, saying he was blissful there.
Multiple media outlets claim Ronaldo’s salary with Al Nassrem is around $200 million a yr if trade deals are included – which, if confirmed, could be the best salary within the history of the game.
Distinguished football reporter Fabrizio Romano outlined the contract in a tweet, calling it “the largest salary in football history”.
At 37, Ronaldo is the traditional retirement age for a skilled footballer, so his signing extends his profession with a significant financial return. Ronaldo’s contract with Manchester United allowed him to earn a staggering $605,000 a week. He’s considered one of the highest-paid athletes in history.
Al Nassr contract can be supposedly see Ronaldo takes home over a million dollars a week.
Al Nassr, founded in Riyadh in 1955, is considered one of the oldest football clubs in Saudi Arabia and has won nine Saudi Premier League titles. The team’s current manager is Frenchman Rudi Garcia, whose resume includes managing top European clubs comparable to Roma, Olympique de Marseille and Lille.
Cristiano Ronaldo scores from the penalty spot for Portugal through the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 match between Portugal and Ghana on November 24, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.
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Saudi clubs are known for their ability to supply large payouts to foreign players, especially because the oil-rich and conservative kingdom builds its sports, entertainment and other industries to draw tourism, talent and investment to assist diversify its economy. Saudi Arabia has applied to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Ronaldo is the all-time leading goalscorer in skilled football, with a total of 819 goals scored as of the top of 2022. He scored as many as 450 goals for the Spanish team Real Madrid, 145 goals in 346 matches for Manchester United, 118 for the Portuguese national team and 101 for the Italian club Juventus.
Along with Ronaldo’s football achievements, he can also be followed on social media – something that is probably going of great value to the Saudi kingdom because it seeks to bring more positive attention to the country. Ronaldo became the primary athlete to surpass a combined 500 million followers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in 2021, and now has 525 million followers on Instagram alone.
Ronaldo played in his final World Cup through the 2022 tournament in Qatar, setting a recent record as the primary man to attain in five different FIFA World Cups when he scored the winning goal against Ghana. The Portuguese team was later eliminated from the tournament by Morocco.