Al-Hilal’s president confirms talks with Cristiano Ronaldo: money is not an issue

Sanctions made deal impossible

There had been speculation for months about Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Manchester United in the summer. Ultimately, no suitable club was found for the 37-year-old, even though rumors of a mega offer from Saudi Arabia have surfaced in the meantime. A move by the five-time Ballon d’Or winner to Al-Hilal Saudi FC should not have failed on monetary grounds, as its president Fahad ben Nafel reported.

“Yes, we negotiated with Ronaldo. Money was never the problem. Al-Hilal is capable of signing any star in the world. The problem lay in the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which prevented us from signing players. We didn’t stop negotiating with footballers despite the sanction and we tried to delay entering the final stages of negotiations until the sanction was lifted,” ben Nafel told YouTube channelthamanya‘ (quoted via ‘records“).

The reigning Saudi Professional League champions were banned from signing players for two transfer periods in May. This was due to the case of Mohamed Kanno, who reversed his move to Al-Nassr, leaving him illegally signed by two different clubs.

Like the broadcastersCNN Portugal‘ and ‘TVI’ as well as the Spanish sports newspaper ‘AS‘ reported unanimously, an offer of €300m should lure Ronaldo, who was among the losers in the Premier League’s market value update, to Saudi Arabia. It was not yet known which club from the desert state it was. The offer over two seasons should provide for a transfer fee of 30 million euros – Ronaldo could have earned 125 million euros per season and the remaining 20 million euros would go to the consultants.

Ronaldo’s contract ends in 2023 – Was also traded at BVB

The Portuguese, whose contract expires at the end of the season, has meanwhile been associated with FC Chelsea, FC Bayern, PSG and FC Barcelona. He was also traded at Borussia Dortmund, he is said to have even offered himself. Sports director Sebastian Kehl did not want to be lured out of his reserve when asked about the personnel: “I know very well that every word from a BVB manager in this matter would result in a huge media story,” he said at the beginning of September.

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Manchester Utd. 29% Bor. Dortmund premier league Bundesliga

As the “Sport Bild” now reports, BVB would have dealt more intensively with Ronaldo’s change if the black and yellow had not already agreed with Anthony Modeste (34), who replaced the sick Sébastien Haller (28) for 5.1 million euros came from 1. FC Köln.

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