Erdogan: "Ronaldo was punished in the World Cup because of his support for Palestine" - voila! sport

Argentina national team fans celebrate the victory in Buenos Aires (from YouTube)

Cristiano Ronaldo is getting closer to the amazing transition to the ranks of Al Nassar of Saudi Arabia and today (Monday) reports are being published according to which the Saudi team has set a date when they will conduct medical tests for the player, who as I recall has released his contract at Manchester United and is left without a team after the World Cup.

As you remember, the previous reports stated that Ronaldo will sign a long-term contract for seven years with an annual cost of 75 million dollars.

Ronaldo, 37, is expected to play for the Saudi club and then become an honorary ambassador of sorts, with the Saudis hoping he will help the wealthy nation host the World Cup in 2030, as Qatar has now done.

Wealthy Al Nassar boasts several other prized foreigners such as Brazil's Talisca and Luis Gustavo, Cameroon's Vincent Aboucar, Colombian goalkeeper Ospina and Argentina's Gonzalez Martinez.

After nine rounds in Saudi Arabia, it leads its league only thanks to a better goal difference than Al Shabab.

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On the way to Saudi Arabia.

Ronaldo (Photo: GettyImages, PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP)

Earlier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, claimed that Ronaldo was suspended during the World Cup due to his political support for Palestine.

"It was a political punishment because he expressed his position and stood by the Palestinian cause," Erdogan claimed.

"They took him out of the picture. To send a player like Ronaldo to the field for 30 minutes destroys him psychologically and drains his energy. According to the information I have, he is going to play in Saudi Arabia."

Erdogan has previously thanked the Portuguese for his support for Palestine, saying he "admires Ronaldo" because of it.

He based his words on publications from the "Pillar of Operation" period in 2012, when it was reported that Ronaldo donated about 1.5 million euros to children in Gaza.

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• Cristiano Ronaldo

• Recep Tayyip Erdogan