Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly did not reject a move to Saudi Arabia this summer.
The Portuguese superstar was in the final stages of completing a mega-money move to Al-Hilal.
The Saudi club have revealed the exact reason why the transfer fell through.
Ronaldo was all set to leave Old Trafford, but for the registration issues faced by the buying club.
Al-Hilal President Fahad ben Nafel stated:
“Yes, we negotiated with Ronaldo.”
“The problem was not in the money or the principle. Al-Hilal is able to bring in the stars of the world.”
“But it was in the decision of the Sports Arbitration Centre that prevented us from registering the players.
“We did not stop negotiating with the players despite the decision to ban, but we were delaying entering the final stage of the negotiations until the ban was lifted.”
In a separate story, Fabrizio Romano opened up about how close Ronaldo was to joining Manchester City before joining United in the summer of 2021.
He claimed that while a move was undoubtedly discussed between the two parties, the deal wasn’t as close as some make out.
“As you’ll remember, last summer, there were talks over a surprise move for Cristiano Ronaldo to join Manchester City.”
“Still, it was never 100% approved by the board or by the technical staff at City. There were also some issues at Ronaldo’s end with his agent Jorge Mendes, so the deal collapsed, even though Juventus were happy to accept the move.”
“In the end, United appeared on the scene, and Ronaldo was happy to join them as soon as their interest became apparent.”
Ronaldo is yet to find his goalscoring form this season. Ten Hag has opted to go for a more fluid attack with Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Antony all starting.
However, one cannot discount the Five-time Ballon d’Or winner from making a solid comeback.
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