Al Nassr move means Ronaldo has FAILED with one final ambition

Stuart Telford

• 30 Dec 2022 21:46 GMT
• 4 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo has achieved almost everything there is to achieve in the game, but his big money move to Al Nassr means he has fallen short of one ambition he expressed in 2015.

Ronaldo is Real Madrid's all-time record goalscorer, a Champions League winner with them and Manchester United, a European champion with Portugal and a five-time recipient of the Ballon d'Or.

Widely, and rightly, regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo is somewhat unfortunate to have shared an era with Lionel Messi, although the fact he made that particular GOAT debate a conversation at all through sheer hard work is testament to his character.

READ: OFFICIAL: Cristiano Ronaldo joins Al-Nassr

But back in 2015, at the height of a Real Madrid career which saw him score a barely believable 450 goals in 438 games in all competitions, Ronaldo swore that he would one day bow out on a high.

Ronaldo: 'I want to finish at the top level'

"In my mind I want to finish at the top level," he told the Jonathan Ross Show. "I want to finish with dignity, a good club."

Ronaldo left Real for Juventus in a €100 million transfer in 2018, and has been on a gradual decline ever since, moving onto Man Utd for a second spell at Old Trafford and now to Saudi Arabia with Al Nassr.

READ: Ronaldo slated Xavi for Middle East move in 2016

The nature of his Man Utd exit rules out the dignity part of his above statement. Ronaldo gave an unsanctioned interview to Piers Morgan on the eve of the World Cup in which he slammed the club, its Glazer family ownership, and manager Erik ten Hag.

He was released "by mutual consent" soon after.

"Good club" might be open to interpretation, meanwhile, but Ronaldo surely didn't imagine he would be seeing out his career in the Saudi Pro League.

He could have retired in 2018 as arguably Real Madrid's greatest ever player. Even if he hung up his boots at the start of this season after 18 Premier League goals for Man Utd last, he would have bowed out on a high.

But instead he is holding on, like a boxer that refuses to retire, one whose physical prime is behind him and has now been knocked out of the big leagues.

A reported pay packet of €200m per year will soften the blow, but Ronaldo can no longer say that he finished at the top level.