No Navas reunion for Ronaldo at Al Nassr

Stuart Telford

Updated: 23 May 2023 09:09 CDT
3 min read

Keylor Navas and Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid. — © ProShots

Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly wanted a reunion with former Real Madrid teammate Keylor Navas at Al Nassr, but the Saudi Arabians have moved in another direction in light of injury to first-choice goalkeeper David Ospina.

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Ronaldo joined Al Nassr on a €200 million a season contract on 1 January and is set to make his competitive debut against Al Ittifaq on Sunday having taken part in an exhibition friendly against Lionel Messi's Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday.

A host of Ronaldo's former Real Madrid teammates have been linked with their own moves to Al Nasssr, and Saudi Arabian football more generally, and Navas is available, having fallen behind Gigio Donnarumma at PSG.

READ: Cristiano Ronaldo creates Real Madrid dream team at Al Nassr

Incumbent goalkeeper Ospina - the former Nice, Arsenal and Napoli shot-stopper - fractured his elbow in last Sunday's goalless draw with Al Shabab - and a move for Navas might have made sense, but Al Nassr have now moved for Agustin Rossi instead.

"BATMAN ROSSI... BATMAN MASTICA CHICLE... SE ACOMODA LA CAPA...

EL CABALLERO DE LA NOCHE XENEIZE"

Agustín Rossi, el héroe de Boca Juniors

Relato para @Cadena_Xeneize pic.twitter.com/rGujqWh84l
— Angel Appella (@Angel_Appella) June 29, 2022

€1m deal

"Agustin Rossi, a Boca Juniors player, received a call, got off one plane, onto another, and is ready to play with Cristiano Ronaldo," report Portuguese sports newspaper Record.

"The 27-year-old Argentine has everything set to move to Vitor Pereira's Flamengo in July, so he will only play in Saudi Arabia for the next five months, on loan from Boca.

"Al Nassr will pay Boca just under €1m for his five-month loan."

READ: Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr: Goals, assists, results & fixtures

It was reportedly a whirlwind turn for events for Rossi, who has been called up by Argentina before but never capped at senior level.

Rossi played in Boca's Super Cup loss to Racing on Friday in the United Arab Emirates. The club had a two-hour stopover in Madrid, during which time the goalkeeper received a call from his agent explaining that Al Nassr had everything set up for his move.

He is now an Al Nassr player and could make his debut - like Ronaldo - on Sunday.