Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer to Al Nassr should be made official later this week. Much has been said about the perceived smaller size of the League in that country to welcome a name of this magnitude and the possibility that the Portuguese star could lose stature and projection. But for those who know the Saudi championship well, none of these scenarios arise.
Al Nassr sporting director Marcelo Salazar commented cautiously on the deal yesterday: “I am not authorized to say yes or no. We will wait and see how things unfold until the end of the year. As you may understand, this is a negotiation that is huge, not only for the club, but for the country and for world football, and which must be conducted by higher authorities.
DN spoke with Hélder Cristóvão, a Portuguese coach who has worked at three Saudi clubs, including Al-Nassr, where he was director-general of training, sports director and interim coach, and Filipe Gouveia, who currently coaches Al-Hazm.
“There is already a lot of quality in the Saudi Super League and from year to year that quality is increasing. Do you think Cristiano Ronaldo will lie there and eat dates? None of that… he will have to face excellent defenses And the teams are quite complete, usually with good midfielders and attackers who stand out for their speed,” analyzes Hélder Cristóvão.
On the other hand, with the arrival of CR7, he foresees that “the other big clubs will also decide to make big investments, attract good players and improve the League even more”.
Currently, Fábio Martins is the only Portuguese footballer to play in the Saudi League – he signed last Friday with Al Khaleej -, but four coaches are active in the emblems of the country: Pepa, at Al-Tai, Quim Machado, at the service of Al -Orobah, Pedro Emanuel, of Al Khaleej, and the aforementioned Filipe Gouveia, of Al-Hazm.
The latter underlines that “the arrival of Ronaldo will bring great credibility to the Saudi Super League, to all football and also to the country itself, even if we think in terms of tourism. And be careful, it is a lie to say that the Saudi League is not competitive. There are good players and four or five big clubs. It is undoubtedly the strongest league in this part of the world, ahead of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Morocco,” he underlined.
Hélder Cristóvão is sure that when Cristiano Ronaldo arrives in the country, “he will be received with honors of the state, with all the merits he has made for world football”. And he speaks of a “sports and business marriage” between the Portugal international and Al Nassr, “the most important of a series of major investments that the government has made in the field of sports”.
Interestingly, Filipe Gouveia’s Al-Hazm faced Al Nassr in a private match a few days ago. “I had the opportunity to speak with the president of the club, Mr. Musalli Al-Muammar, and he was completely euphoric, ecstatic when he told me about the possibility of Cristiano coming. It would be spectacular for the club and of course , for the club itself. Saudi League, because for me he is still the best player in the world,” he confesses.
Filipe Gouveia guarantees that “Saudi football has grown from year to year, which is largely due to the increase in the number of foreign players”. In addition, he emphasizes that “the number of foreigners allowed per club has increased, this season there are eight and next season there may be nine”.
Hélder Cristóvão agrees that the improvement in the quality of Saudi football “has a lot to do with the growing number of foreign footballers”. Still, he insists that “Al-Hilal was the first club to realize that if they bet on the best Saudis, they would be closer to success, as foreigners cannot always adapt and at the same time they took advantage of the fact that other clubs have the national player. have neglected”.
Al-Hilal, remember, is the three-time Saudi champion – it has won five of the last six championships and won the Asian Champions League in 2019 and 2021.
The giant Al Nassr and a good city to live in
If the transfer to Al Nassr is confirmed, CR7 will join two well-known Portuguese names in the squad: former Benfica player Talisca and former Porto player Aboubakar, although the latter is not certain to stay at the club. “Cristiano Ronaldo will be able to form a good partnership with both, especially with Talisca, who has been one of the stars of the championship since he came from China. [em maio de 2021, proveniente do Guangzhou FC]🇧🇷
Hélder Cristóvão and Filipe Gouveia use the word “giant” to describe Al Nassr, emphasizing that it is “one of the biggest clubs in Saudi Arabia”. The last championship titles were won in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2018/19. “I paved the way for this last title,” emphasizes Hélder Cristóvão, who was sports director and interim coach for three games that season, between the departure of Daniel Carreño and the arrival of Rui Vitória.
On the other hand, Filipe Gouveia points out that Saudi Arabia is very attractive to foreign players and coaches, “who do not pay taxes here, that is, everything that comes in goes directly into the account, while in Portugal a coach pays 52% of the pays taxes.” taxes”.
On the other hand, he is confident that CR7 will have no trouble adapting to the country. “I live in Ar Rass, a city that is still somewhat conservative, where women mainly wear burkas, but he goes to Riyadh, the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia, where women are less covered and have everything that exists. big European city. And you will definitely live in a private condominium, with all the comforts…”, he says.
The coach adds that “Cristiano Ronaldo will have to adapt to the fact that religion is lived very intensely here, where training cannot coincide with prayers, which take place four times a day”.
Source: DN
