Saudi Club Al Nassr Hopes To Keep Cristiano Ronaldo Until His Retirement

Saudi club Al-Nassr reportedly hopes that Cristiano Ronaldo will play for the club until he takes retirement from professional football.

After leaving Manchester United in Dec. 2022, Cristiano Ronaldo signed a two-and-a-half-year deal worth $200 million per year with the Riyadh-based club Al-Nassr. The contract Ronaldo signed with Al-Nassr runs until 2025, by which time he will already have celebrated his 40th birthday, ESPN reported.

Al-Nassr says that they believe their club will be the Portuguese superstar's final club before he hangs up his boots and retires from professional football. According to sources, Al Nassr has also not ruled out extending Ronaldo's contract if he wants to continue his playing career.

Ronaldo made his first appearance for Al Nassr in a 1-0 win over Ettifaq on Sunday, Jan. 23. In the match against Ettifaq, Ronaldo could not score a goal. However, manager Rudi Garcia said he was "happy" with the forward's performance as his team returned to the top of the Saudi Pro League, Goal reported.

Garcia insisted that it would take time to integrate Ronaldo into the team after only a few weeks of training.

"I told the players they need to make the right choices on the pitch," Garcia said.

"Obviously Cristiano Ronaldo is asking for the ball and we have to give him the ball because he's the player who can make the difference. We need to work a lot on the positions of everyone. Sometimes we had crosses but not enough people in the box. We need to work on that."

Al Nassr is also using Ronaldo to help them improve off the pitch as well. According to sources, Ronaldo arrived in Saudi Arabia with a list of "best practices," which club officials are working to implement in the game.

Al Nassr is also determined to use Ronaldo's experience at the top of European football to become a powerhouse of Saudi and Asian football.

Al-Nassr and Ronaldo are due to return to action in the Saudi Super Cup against Al-Ittihad on Thursday, Jan. 26.

Meanwhile, Garry Cook, who was the former Manchester City chief executive, has been appointed as the new executive president of the Saudi Pro League. Cook served as Manchester City's chief executive between 2008 and 2011 and has since worked at the UFC.