Final Up to date: January 05, 2023, 20:16 IST
Cristiano Ronaldo attends a press convention for his official unveiling as a brand new member of Al Nassr soccer membership in in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. Ronaldo, who has gained 5 Ballon d’Ors awards for the very best soccer participant on the planet and 5 Champions League titles, will play exterior of Europe for the primary time in his storied profession. (AP Photograph/Amr Nabil)
The 37-year-old mentioned he was eager to play as quickly as potential for his new membership Al Nassr, however sources inside the membership confirmed that the five-time Balon D’Or winner’s debut of their colors was on maintain for the time being as they’ve exceeded their quota for overseas gamers
Portuguese celebrity Cristiano Ronaldo faces a wait to make his Al Nassr debut as a result of the Saudi membership have exceeded their quota for overseas gamers, membership sources instructed AFP on Thursday.
When he was unveiled with nice fanfare on Tuesday, the 37-year-old mentioned he was eager to play as quickly as potential, beginning with Thursday’s house sport towards Al Ta’ee.
However Ronaldo, whose deal is price an estimated 200 million euros to June 2025, is Al Nassr’s ninth overseas participant — another than the eight allowed by Saudi soccer authorities.
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The sport on the 25,000-capacity Mrsool Park was finally postponed for a day till Friday over “electrical faults” attributable to heavy rain, the Saudi Professional League mentioned.
“Al Nassr has not registered him but as a result of there isn’t a emptiness for a overseas participant,” one Al Nassr official, who didn’t need to be named as a result of he was not authorised to talk to media, instructed AFP.
“A overseas participant should depart to register Ronaldo, both by promoting or by terminating the contract by mutual consent,” the official added.
Al Nassr’s overseas contingent consists of Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina, Brazilian midfielder Luiz Gustavo and forwards Anderson Talisca of Brazil and Vincent Aboubakar of Cameroon.
Saudi studies mentioned Uzbek midfielder Jaloliddin Masharipov was almost definitely to make manner for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and Champions League document scorer.
A second membership supply confirmed that Ronaldo was not registered as of Thursday afternoon native time.
“There are ongoing negotiations to promote one of many gamers, however they haven’t reached their ultimate levels but,” he mentioned.
Al Nassr’s first sport since Ronaldo’s arrival will now be held on Friday at Mrsool Park, within the capital Riyadh, after an engineering report raised security considerations, the Saudi Professional League mentioned.
The stadium “was unable to host the match, because of the heavy rain that led to electrical faults in lighting the stadium and the gates, based mostly on the engineering report, and within the curiosity of the protection of the gamers and the attendees, the match was postponed”, an announcement mentioned.
Mrsool Park, the place Ronaldo was unveiled to fireworks and deafening cheers from a capability crowd on Tuesday, was offered out as soon as once more for Thursday’s scheduled sport.
Each membership officers refused to substantiate whether or not Ronaldo nonetheless wanted to serve a two-match English Soccer Affiliation ban issued in November for hitting a cell phone out of a teenage fan’s hand after Manchester United, his membership on the time, misplaced to Everton.
The Saudi Soccer Affiliation referred questions in regards to the match ban to Al Nassr.
On Tuesday, the Portuguese ahead mentioned he was on the lookout for a brand new problem by coming to Saudi Arabia, including that he had acquired presents from around the globe.
“I’m a novel participant. It’s good to return right here, I broke all of the data there (in Europe) and I need to break a couple of data right here,” Ronaldo mentioned.
Amnesty Worldwide urged him to talk out about human rights points within the deeply conservative monarchy, calling his transfer a part of a “wider sample of sportswashing”, or utilizing sport to deflect criticism.
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