Another of Ronaldo’s former clubs is leading the race for the 41-year-old’s signature
The Saudi Pro League is ready to move on from Cristiano Ronaldo if the Al-Nassr megastar wants to leave in the summer.
Ronaldo has expressed his discontent with the league’s overlords, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, for favouring other clubs with their transfer policy, feeling Al-Nassr have not been allowed to strengthen their squad as much as they could.
His outburst has raised the possibility of the 41-year-old seeking a summer exit. Ronaldo has a £43m release clause, which becomes active in the summer.
Ronaldo’s next club
The i Paper understands Manchester United are not interested in bringing Ronaldo to the club for a third time as it stands.
A return to Sporting Lisbon – in the unlikely event they can muster the funds – is more likely. He has also been linked with a move to MLS and even the neighbouring Qatari Stars League.
Saudi officials have been taken aback by Ronaldo’s affront. They have already insisted that no player is above what they are trying to do with the Pro League, with scouting and analysis networks advancing so much that younger players can be identified across Europe and persuaded to move to the Middle East. The player himself was missing from Al-Nassr’s squad for Friday night’s game against Al-Ittihad – the second game in a row he has excluded himself from selection.
Sources have told The i Paper that while it is obviously preferable that a player of Ronaldo’s profile stays put, if he were to seek a summer exit, the Saudi Pro League is ready to crown “a new king”.
Saudi’s next Galactico
Fernandes is considering his Man Utd future (Photo: PA)
“With other big names leaving, we will look at lots of other marquee names in the summer,” a source close to the Pro League transfer process tells The i Paper.
“Mohamed Salah and Bruno Fernandes would be the perfect picks. Salah especially, given he would attract an Arab audience as a Muslim.
“Either of those coming in, along with that younger talent, would be huge for us. And really soften any Ronaldo blow.”
Ronaldo’s issue comes down to the January transfer window. Al-Nassr spent almost £100m last summer on players, including £26m on former Chelsea Joao Felix and £22m on Kingsley Coman from Bayern Munich.
However, the club only signed one player in January, Hayder Abdulkareem, a 21-year-old Iraqi midfielder, with Ronaldo “unhappy with the way the PIF is managing the club”.
Will Salah and Fernandes leave?
Salah’s reconciliation with Liverpool prevented Saudi clubs from making a move for the Egyptian in January. There is a growing belief, however, that the summer will finally see the 33-year-old leave Merseyside.
His outburst back in December, when he said he felt he had been thrown under the bus by the club and there were figures who wanted him out, had the desired effect. Salah is back in the Liverpool team and a key figure once again.
He did not want to leave Liverpool without saying a proper goodbye in January, but the summer makes sense for all parties, given how much the champions have spent on long-term Salah replacements already.
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There are several figures at United who believe Fernandes has had enough of the unrelenting managerial turmoil and the skipper will seek an exit at the end of the season.
A recent mini-revival under Michael Carrick has lifted the mood around the club, with Fernandes, playing in his preferred position again, crucial to that improvement.
Old Trafford officials plan to hold talks with the 31-year-old before the World Cup, so they can start to plan their expected summer midfield overhaul. Bayern Munich are keeping tabs on the situation, while it is understood Fernandes’ contract includes a clause that would allow him to join a club outside England for £57m.