World football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo cannot yet play at Al-Nassr because the Saudi club has exceeded its quota of foreign players, club officials told AFP on Thursday.
The 37-year-old Portuguese striker, considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, told Riyadh on Tuesday that he wanted to play as soon as possible, starting with the home game against Al Ta'ee originally scheduled for Thursday, and postponed. See you Friday.
But Cristiano Ronaldo, whose contract until June 2025 is estimated at 200 million euros, is the ninth foreign player to join Al-Nassr, exceeding the maximum of eight allowed by the Saudi Football Federation.
“
Al Nassr has not registered it yet because there is no vacancy for a foreign player
,” a club official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, not being authorized to speak. to the media.
“
A foreign player must leave so that Ronaldo can be registered, either through a transfer or a termination of contract by mutual consent
”.
Among Al-Nassr's foreign players are Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina, Brazilian midfielder Luiz Gustavo and Brazilian strikers Anderson Talisca and Cameroonian Vincent Aboubakar.
According to Saudi media, Uzbek midfielder Jalaluddin Masharipov is most likely to make way for the five-time Ballon d'Or and five-time Champions League winner.
“
Negotiations are ongoing on the sale of one of the players, but they have not entered the final stage yet
,” said another club official, confirming that the Portuguese player has still not been registered. Thursday afternoon, hours before the scheduled game against Al Ta'ee.
The meeting was nevertheless postponed to Friday, due to a "
power failure
", according to the authorities.
Al-Nassr officials would not comment on the November sanction imposed on Ronaldo.
The player had been suspended for two matches after dropping a young fan's mobile phone following a loss to Everton.
This suspension, decided by the Disciplinary Committee of the English Federation, will apply to the new club and to the championship, whatever the country, chosen by Ronaldo, had specified the FA.
Welcomed Tuesday by 25,000 spectators at the Mrsool Park stadium in Riyadh, Cristiano Ronaldo said his arrival at the Saudi club did not mark the end of his career, but a new stage in his hunt for records.
"
In Europe my job is done, I won everything, I played in the most important clubs
," he said.
The NGO Amnesty International urged him on Thursday to use his status as a global football superstar to speak out on human rights issues in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7UVDTX7DREC7DXVCZN6MEKGBY.jpg)
