The world record offer Ronaldo rejected this summer
FT Desk
- 13 Sep 2022 06:45 CDT
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo rejected an astronomical offer to leave Manchester United this summer worth an incredible €243 million over two seasons.
That is according to CNN Portugal, which reports that Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal offered Ronaldo a world record deal.
Related articles
Had Ronaldo accepted, he would have taken home €2.3m-a-week and around €10m per month.
Ronaldo turned down the move because it was his desire to continue playing top-level European football at a major continental superclub.
Cristiano issued a transfer request to Man Utd in July, citing his desire to join a club that is in the Champions League and could challenge for major trophies.
Ronaldo also chose not to go on tour with Man Utd during the summer, citing family reasons.
He did not begin training again until the last week of pre-season, playing just one friendly match against Rayo Vallecano – a game he caused controversy in by returning home while the match was still ongoing.
His agent Jorge Mendes offered him out to numerous clubs around Europe, without finding a taker.
Indeed, the most concrete interest appeared to come from Saudi Arabia through Al-Hilal’s offer.
What did Yasser Al-Misehal say?
Yasser Al-Misehal, president of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, recently admitted that he would love to see Ronaldo move to Saudi Arabia.
"We would love to see a player like Cristiano Ronaldo playing in the Saudi league," Al-Misehal told the Athletic.
"It would bring a huge positive feedback and it would be big news for everyone. I'm sure everyone knows the achievements and records of Cristiano Ronaldo, but also as a player who is a great role model.
"I think, 'Why not?', I'm sure it would be a very expensive deal, of course, but we can see our clubs getting higher revenues in the past couple of years. We have already seen some big players who used to play in the Premier League come to the Saudi league.
"I like Cristiano Ronaldo as a player and I would like to see him play in Saudi Arabia."
