Cristiano Ronaldo bid farewell to European football after signing for Saudi side Al Nassr on a whopping €200-per-year wages. The 37-year-old forward was without a club after his contract termination with Manchester United for the bombshell interview he gave to Piers Morgan, going on a 90 minute rant against the club.
The Portuguese led his country at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar as a free agent where he had a fallout with coach Fernando Santos, giving birth to another lot of problems. With Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes looking for a new club, it was expected the prolific goalscorer will at least spend another season or two in Europe. However, to everybody’s shock, he chose to leave the continent for Asian experience with Al Nassr.
Cristiano Ronaldo talks about his ‘inspiring’ move to Al Nassr
The speculation of Al Nassr moving swiftly for Cristiano Ronaldo had caught fire after it was confirmed that the Saudi club tried to lure him away in the summer as well. However, with the World Cup in mind, Ronaldo decided to put stay in the Premier League with United. But he could only enjoy 4 starts across 14 league games, and managed a mere goal.
Moving on from his United woes, Ronaldo will now become the highest paid athlete of all time after penning a two-and-a-half-year deal worth a package of €500 million in Saudi. He will pocket a salary of €90 million per-year, and another €110 million in image rights and other commercial deals. Speaking about his shock decision to leave Europe, Cristiano Ronaldo said:
“I am excited to experience a new football league in a different country. The vision of what Al Nassr are doing and developing in Saudi Arabia both in terms of men’s and women’s football is very inspiring. We can see from Saudi Arabia’s recent performance at the World Cup that this is a country with big football ambitions and a lot of potential.
“I am fortunate that I have won everything I set out to win in European football and feel now that this is the right moment to share my experience in Asia. I am looking forward to joining my new teammates and together with them, help the club to achieve success.”
Ronaldo indeed won everything there as to in Europe across spells with Sporting CP, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus. He amassed over 700 club goals in 949 games, and lifted 30 trophies including a record five Champions League titles, seven league honors and four Club World Cups. Dubbed as the ‘Mr. Champions League’, Ronaldo hold the record for most goals, most assists and most appearances in the Europe’s elite competition.
However, there will be no Cristiano Ronaldo in either of the European competitions in Champions League and Europa League after moving to Al Nassr. Other reports suggest that the MLS was also an option for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, but he rather chose the Saudi club over offers from the USA.