Izuchukwu OkosiEnglish Premier League leaders Arsenal have been identified as a possible destination for Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo who had to leave Manchester United after a frosty relationship with Manager, Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo has been heavily linked with Al-Nassr in recent weeks and he reportedly has a £173m offer on the table from the Saudi Arabian side and is currently training at Real Madrid’s training base.
With influential striker Gabriel Jesus injured and not expected to play for the Gunners for at least three months, there has been calls for Arsenal to make a decision on Ronaldo and sign him even if on temporary basis.
Al Nassr’s head coach, Rudi Garcia, has admitted that he “would be delighted” if he got the chance to work with Ronaldo.
“I think that any coach would be delighted to train a great star like Cristiano and already, in November 2021, I was very close to going to United,” Garcia said.
“They chose Ralf Rangnick, but I met twice with John Murtough and Darren Fletcher. I came very close to coaching this club and was very motivated to go, who wouldn’t be motivated to coach United?
“I have always thought that the great players are the easiest to manage because they are very intelligent, I verified this with Francesco Totti at Roma.”
But according to Tribal Football, Arsenal ‘would like to join the race’ for the Portugal international.
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There’s ‘will to make an attempt’ from Arsenal, with their bid for the striker ‘gaining ground’ the report stated.
It would feel like a very odd move from a club where Mikel Arteta has worked so hard to create an ethos of togetherness to risk bringing in such a divisive figure.
But they’re in need of a striker after Gabriel Jesus’ injury and former Chelsea and England right back Glen Johnson believes Ronaldo would be a great stop-gap while the Brazilian recovers.
“In terms of a short-term solution, then yes, definitely,” Johnson told GGRecon.
“Jesus is class, and if Arsenal is going to win the league, and if Jesus is going to be out for three months, then you don’t have three months to wait if you’re trying to win a Premier League title.
“To sign Ronaldo on a short-term deal would represent a sensible option.”
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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