Cristiano Ronaldo faces an uncertain future at Al-Nassr as contract talks between Ronaldo’s camp and the Saudi Pro League side have stalled.
The 40-year-old forward has been in talks regarding a renewal for the past few months, but negotiations have hit a snag in recent weeks.
If Ronaldo opts against renewing his contract with Al-Nassr, we’ve assessed five realistic moves that he could make this summer.
Sporting Lisbon
This option probably makes the most sense.
With Viktor Gyokeres looking nailed on to leave this summer, Sporting are definitely going to be in the market for a new number nine.
Ronaldo started his professional career with Sporting and it would make for a romantic story if he ended his career with them too.
CR7 has been consistently linked with a return to his boyhood club over the last few years, but the finances of this sort of deal would make things tricky for the Portuguese club.
Ronaldo currently earns a base salary of £3.2million per week in Saudi Arabia, a figure that Sporting couldn’t come close to matching.
“I love watching Sporting games, it’s my team,” Ronaldo told Canal 11 in February.
“But I’m not planning to return to play there. I think it makes no sense. Of course, my country is Portugal, but everything has a time and a limit.”
Chelsea
It’s been well-documented that Todd Boehly had been interested in signing Ronaldo previously and with the Club World Cup on the horizon, Chelsea could be tempted to offer CR7 a short-term contract.
While the links to Chelsea have resurfaced in recent months, former Chelsea winger Florent Malouda thinks that the Premier League club would struggle to integrate CR7 into their squad.
“I remember when the owners took over, they were assessing the possibility of signing him,” Malouda told Racing Tipster.
“It would be more like a marketing and media coup than anything, really, in terms of sports logic.”
Al-Hilal
If you can’t beat them, join them.
Since moving to Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo hasn’t got his hands on any major silverware, largely thanks to Al-Hilal.
The sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia owns a majority share in both Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal, so moving between clubs shouldn’t pose too much of an issue. Albeit he’d probably lose most of his Al-Nassr supporters in the process.
It’s also worth pointing out that Al-Hilal have qualified for the 2025 Club World Cup, so if Ronaldo wants to play in that tournament, he could be tempted to make the switch.
MLS
Ronaldo’s former United teammate, Wes Brown, thinks that he should still consider moving to MLS.
“Cristiano Ronaldo should consider America, especially with Messi there,” Brown told The Sports Daily.
“His level of play is still incredible. He’s sprinting at 40 years old, and I think he has a lot left to offer. It would be exciting to see them face off again in the MLS.”
Ronaldo’s brand would certainly feel the benefit of him playing in the United States and he’d surely have plenty of offers on the table if he declares his interest.
Fenerbahce
Ronaldo was linked with the Turkish giants in November last year with Jose Mourinho supposedly keen to work with the Portuguese superstar once again.
Even at the ripe old age of 40, you can’t help but think that Ronaldo would score goals for fun in the Turkish Super League.
Ronaldo himself has previously stated his desire to play under Mourinho again, albeit a move to Fenerbahce seems like a long-shot at this stage of his career.
“Work with Mourinho again? Why not? I would put him at the top, I always say that,” Ronaldo said during an interview in 2018.
“I have played for so many great coaches, but Mourinho was a big thinker analytically, he went into everything in great detail.”