by Brandon Reiter
It’s world cup season, which means were talking some soccer dollars at Skyview this month.
Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Manchester United in 2021, when he signed a 2-year/£53.6 Million (Approx. $65 USD), following his tenures with Real Madrid and Juventus. However, his return to the storied English Club that he played for earlier in his career was not all he hoped it would be. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Last month, in an interview with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo expressed his extreme discontent with Manchester United. He discussed his displeasure with the organization following the firing of manager, Sir Alex Fegurson. ‘The progress was zero. Since Sir Alex left, I saw no evolution in the club. Nothing had changed,’ he said.
The superstar held nothing back as he went on to criticize the club’s management, facilities, and even the effort of his teammates. However, he went on to clarify that it wasn’t just a Man U problem when it come to players’ motivation by saying, ‘I don’t mean only a few in Manchester United, but all the teams in all leagues in the world, the youngsters are not the same of my generation. But you cannot blame them, because it’s part of the life and the new generation, the new technologies that distract them. They don’t care’
Ronaldo also opened up about the tragic death of his newborn son who passed during child birth. Him and his partner were expecting twins, the newborn girl did survive. He explained how hard it was to go through something so tragic and that the football (soccer) doesn’t stop.
Not long after the interview, Man U and Ronaldo mutually agreed to part ways making him a short-lived free agent. However it wasn’t an EPL rival or even a team in Europe that shelled out the money for the 37-year-old, but Saudi Arabian club, Al-Nassir FC.
The parties agreed to sign a 2-year deal this coming January for roughly €200million/year (approx. $211 USD). This deal sets the world-wide record for average annual value (AAV) in history, surpassing Lionel Messi’s deal with FC Barcelona from 2017-2021 which was for approximately $168.5 million per year.
Saudi Arabia has made headlines in the Sports world for most of 2022 with the formation of their new golf tour, LIV golf. Many human right’s-activists have accused the Saudi’s of sportswashing, a political strategy that utilizes sport to cleanse their global image. It’s hard to argue that this move to sign Ronaldo isn’t a similar attempt.
The whole situation is very intriguing, as one of the world’s biggest stars is leaving a historic club to play in the middle east. Nonetheless, Ronaldo is moving on and will earn an extraordinary amount of money doing so.
