Cristiano Ronaldo Puts End To Saudi Exit Rumours, Pledges To Stay Another Season
Cristiano Ronaldo's first season in Saudi Arabia ended with a whimper, but with hundreds of millions in wages and unprecedented attention on Saudi football he may not be the last megastar to grace the oil-rich kingdom. The fireworks and euphoria that greeted Ronaldo's gala unveiling in January were in sharp contrast to the close of Al Nassr's season, when the Portuguese sat out a 3-0 win against Al Fateh late on Wednesday. Despite signing the five-time Ballon d'Or-winner in a two-and-a-half-year deal said to total 400 million euros ($428 million), Al Nassr finished second in the Saudi Pro League without any silverware, although they qualified for the Asian Champions League as a consolation.
"I expected to win something this year, but we didn't," Ronaldo said in an interview broadcast on the Saudi Pro League's social media channels.
"But next year I am really positive and confident that things will change, and we go in a better way."
Ronaldo scored 14 goals in his 16 games, racking up 1,701 minutes on the pitch. But it was a "disappointing season" for Al Nassr, the favourite team of some senior Saudi royals, said Al Riyadiah newspaper's editor-in-chief Moqbel Al-Zabni.
"They needed at least one championship," he said.
Fan frustrations aside, however, the 38-year-old remains a marketing coup for Saudi football and the wider country, which is attempting to reinvent itself as a magnet for tourism and foreign investment.
According to a source close to the negotiations, the major oil exporter is also about to land a "huge" deal for Ronaldo's ex-La Liga sparring partner Lionel Messi, the World Cup-winning Argentine icon.
- 'I will continue here' -
Reports have linked a string of other big names to the Saudi Pro League thanks