Ronaldo's Man Utd exit was blocked due to a transfer ban
Karan Tejwani
- 28 Sept 2022 14:50 BST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo wanted a transfer away from Manchester United all summer but a move never materialized, and he’s ended up staying at Old Trafford for this campaign.
The Portuguese star wanted to go to a club where he could compete for titles and play regular Champions League football in the final years of his career, something he didn’t feel he could get at Manchester United.
Ronaldo was linked – and even offered – to several clubs across Europe including Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, but they all rejected the opportunity to sign the 37-year-old.
Their reasons for rejecting were various, ranging from age to tactical fit to the high financial cost of the operation and as a result, he has stayed at Manchester United this season.
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Ronaldo was close to Al Hilal
Away from Europe, there was also interest in Ronaldo with various clubs in the Middle East reportedly interested in bringing the five-time Ballon d’Or winner over to their teams.
Al Hilal, the Saudi Arabia Pro League side, have confirmed they were one of the sides heavily interested in signing Ronaldo earlier in the summer but a move was blocked.
The club President confirmed that Ronaldo agreed a deal in principle to sign a £2 million-a-week contract with the club, but the transfer failed because they were given a transfer ban and the move could not go through.
🚨 Al-Hilal have confirmed that they were in talks with Cristiano Ronaldo this summer.
The club president has claimed that Ronaldo agreed in principle to come for £2m-a-week but the transfer failed because the Saudi club was sanctioned with a transfer ban.
(Source: @MailSport) pic.twitter.com/UDgSMQvsPJ— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) September 28, 2022
Al-Hilal president Fahad ben Nafel told the Thamanya YouTube channel: “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 Center 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.”
There is still talk about Ronaldo’s future, with the Portuguese entering the final year of his contract at Manchester United, and it looks unlikely that he’ll renew with them any time soon.
