Izuchukwu OkosiEmbattled five-time Ballon D’Or award winner, Cristiano Ronaldo, is on the verge of signing a seven-year deal with Saudi Arabian giants, Al-Nassr.
The 37-year-old’s search for a new club was intensified since Portugal got knocked out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals, following which a move to Saudi Arabia has been strongly mooted.
The Portugal international currently trains at the Real Madrid facilities to keep fit, while his management team work towards his next contract.
Ronaldo’s second spell at Manchester United came to an acrimonious end last month, as he ruthlessly attacked various elements of the club in an interview with good friend and ace journalist, Piers Morgan.
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After admitting that he held no respect for manager Erik ten Hag, while also taking aim at the club’s owners, the Glazer family, Ronaldo’s contract at Old Trafford was terminated by mutual consent.
Ronaldo’s ill feelings for his now former club is unconnected with his lack of pre-season action with the rest of the squad. He was not pleased that the club did not show empathy on his son’s death. To make it worse, the club allegedly doubted the fact that the little boy was sick before his death.
Consequently, ‘CR7’ became a free agent from the start of the World Cup; but he only managed one goal in five games and was dropped to the bench for the knockout rounds as Selecao went out to Morocco in the last eight.
According to Marca, Ronaldo’s switch to Al-Nassr is on the verge of completion, and the attacker will sign a seven-and-a-half year deal with Rudi Garcia’s side until 2030. The deal is worth €200m (£176.1m) per year.
The report states that Ronaldo will be contracted to the club as a player for two and a half years until the summer of 2025, and he will spend the following five years as an ambassador for Al-Nassr.
Saudi Arabia are reportedly optimistic about their chances of obtaining hosting rights for the 2030 World Cup after enlisting Ronaldo’s help, and the striker is expected to arrive in Riyadh imminently.
To facilitate the signing of the former Real Madrid and Juventus man, Al-Nassr must reportedly part ways with two or three current players to avoid breach of financial rules.
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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