Unwanted by Europe’s elite clubs, Cristiano Ronaldo’s steep decline has been laid bare by a move to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr that signals the end of his reign as one of football’s most feared strikers.
Ronaldo will be officially unveiled by Al Nassr on Tuesday after agreeing to a contract that runs until 2025 and is reportedly worth more than 200 million euros.
But the riches and fanfare that await the 37-year-old in Saudi Arabia are at odds with his reduced status as a fallen star trading on past heroics.
For Ronaldo to be forced to play out what will surely be the final chapter of his glittering career in the football backwater of Saudi Arabia is a damning indictment of his lacklustre form over the last 18 months.
Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, heads to the Gulf after a painful year that saw him relegated to the Portugal bench and cut adrift by Manchester United.
His second spell with United imploded in November with his departure by mutual consent, shortly after he criticised boss Erik ten Hag and the club’s hierarchy in an explosive television interview.
As his relationship with United soured, Ronaldo was linked to a string of Champions League contenders including Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Napoli.
A return to his first club Sporting Lisbon was also rumoured, while there was talk of a move to the MLS to join Inter Miami, part-owned by former United team mate David Beckham.
But none of those deals came to fruition and when United decided his diminishing contribution, coupled with his public displays of dissent, made him a pricey luxury they no longer needed, it was instructive to note the absence of a rush to sign the ageing icon.
Coming at the same time as his acrimonious United exit, Ronaldo’s failed quest to finally win the World Cup underlined his descent to the ranks of football’s mere mortals.
