With the phrases “Al Nassr ceaselessly,” Cristiano Ronaldo ended uncertainty about his future, and signed a two-year contract extension with the Saudi Arabian membership on Thursday.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s newest deal means he’ll play on till not less than the age of 42, and provides him the prospect so as to add to what has already been a record-breaking profession.
“A brand new chapter begins. Identical ardour, similar dream. Let’s make historical past collectively,” Ronaldo mentioned in a social media submit together with an image of him holding up a shirt that mentioned “Ronaldo 2027.”
The contract sees Ronaldo lengthen his time in Saudi Arabia, having joined Al Nassr on the finish of 2022 in one of the stunning transfers in soccer historical past after leaving Manchester United. The deal was reportedly value as much as $200 million a 12 months and led to a slew of prime gamers, together with Neymar and Karim Benzema, leaving Europe for the oil-rich kingdom.
Together with his contract because of expire, the 40-year-old Ronaldo sparked uncertainty on the finish of the Saudi season final month when he mentioned the “chapter is over.” However he ended hypothesis Thursday, saying “Al Nassr ceaselessly” within the membership’s announcement.
The deal is proof the previous Actual Madrid ahead desires to realize extra. The transfer to a less-challenging league has additionally not hindered his standing together with his nationwide crew.
The five-time Champions League winner has gained 28 main trophies with membership and nation and simply helped Portugal win the UEFA Nations League title. He’s the all-time main scorer within the Champions League with 141 objectives.
The World Cup is the one main honor lacking from his resume and he might get one final likelihood to raise soccer’s grandest prize at subsequent 12 months’s match.
Regardless of serving to to boost the profile of Saudi Arabian soccer and scoring 77 objectives in 74 league appearances, Ronaldo has discovered trophies arduous to come back by at Al Nassr.
His one up to now was the Arab Membership Champions Cup in 2023. He’s but to win the Saudi Professional League in three makes an attempt.
Nonetheless, his newest deal was hailed by the membership, which posted a video of him strolling on a seaside with the caption “The Story continues..” together with emojis of a goat and a gold coronary heart.
Ronaldo is taken into account by many to be soccer’s biggest of all time, a time period typically abbreviated as “GOAT.”
He and Lionel Messi have had a years-long rivalry as the 2 most interesting gamers of their technology, with the duel reaching its peak once they performed for Madrid and Barcelona, respectively.
The depth of the rivalry has diminished lately as each gamers have entered the latter phases of their careers and are enjoying in much less heralded leagues, with Messi becoming a member of MLS crew Inter Miami in 2023.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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