After an explosive interview where Cristiano Ronaldo openly spoke about the flaws in Manchester United and their somewhat unwelcoming environment towards him, it wasn’t a surprise that the team chose to terminate his contract.
For those of you who haven’t watched the interview, Cristiano Ronaldo practically thrashed his former club Manchester United from their owners, structure, and their new coach. One of the things that was not received well by many United fans and the club itself was what he said about their coach Ten Hag, he simply stated, “I do not respect him.” Personally, I think he did the right thing exposing a major club as this is something that many would never even dare to do. Although, this decision may have cost him his career.
Not shortly after the interview and amidst the 2022 Qatar World Cup, rumors about CR7's next move began and one team that stood out amongst those rumors was Al-Nassr. The no.1 team in the Saudi Pro-League. At first, it seemed like a hilarious joke, but as the weeks passed, this joke became a reality. On December 31st Al-Nassr announced the signing of CR7 to the club on a free transfer. He stands to make roughly 175m euros a year.
Al-Nassr, which translates to” victory” in Arabic, is one of the most successful clubs in Saudi Arabia, winning more than 30 titles. Although many clubs across Asia can be found with this name, Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia was the first. For Al-Nassr, having a name like Cristiano Ronaldo on your lineup is recognition in itself. With Ronaldo on board, he would definitely bring more viewership and interest in building the club's popularity. This was proven almost immediately since not shortly after the announcement, Al-Nassr doubled its social media following from 860k to 1.6M.
Many fans have now accused him of letting money get in the way of this decision, in fact, it seems that he has contradicted himself. Not only has a clip resurfaced of Ronaldo listing places where he couldn’t imagine himself playing later in his career with the USA, Qatar, and Dubai making appearances on that list, but in the same interview he also said, “In my mind, I want to finish in the top level. I want to finish with dignity. At a good club.” Personally, I do think money was a big factor in his join to Al-Nassr. After publicly shaming one of the most popular football clubs in the world, as a club manager I wouldn’t want CR7 in my club no matter how good of a player he is because he obviously created a huge scene and he could easily do this if he is unhappy at any other club. So why as a club would you want to pay so much money for a player like him if you live in that constant fear that if you do something he doesn’t like he could try and destroy your club's reputation? Rumors also spread that he wouldn’t lower his price. Al-Nassr came and saved him and offered more money than any other player in the world, this is why I believe his judgment was clouded by money.
There have also been several rumors that before making the decision to join Al-Nassr Ronaldo even approached Real Madrid and waited for Real Madrid to make a decision before joining Al-Nassr. Although Ronaldo has become the highest-paid football player in the world. Was exposing Manchester United worth it?
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