Soccer
Where Will Cristiano Ronaldo Sign? Piers Morgan Says It's Not With the Team Offering Him $200 Million
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sports7 in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
Get to know Tim Crean betterUpdated05 Dec 2022
Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's biggest-name soccer free agent right now. After he and Manchester United mutually terminated his contract on the eve of the 2022 World Cup, the man with over 800 goals for club and country can sign with any team in the world. And despite having an agent, a PR team, and 508 million Instagram followers, the best information as to the question “where will Cristiano Ronaldo sign next?” is coming from British TV host Piers Morgan. And the TV talking head says Ronaldo's next team Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr, even though they are offering Ronaldo north of $200 million to stay in the Middle East once the World Cup is over.
Piers Morgan says the Portuguese star won't sign with Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League
Piers Morgan is (at least one of) the reasons Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer a Manchester United player. Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo sat down for a bombshell interview with Morgan where he trashed everyone and everything related to the club, from the owners to manager Erik ten Hag to the young players to United legend Wayne Rooney's looks.
That led to the contract termination, the free agency, and the question of where will Cristiano Ronaldo sign next?
There are several rumored options as to where will be Ronaldo's next team (more on that below). But there is only one well-publicized public offer. And that is multiple outlets reporting that Al-Nassr, in the Saudi Pro League in Saudi Arabia, is offering the 37-year-old superstar a €200 million ($210M, £173M) per year deal.
The complex piece of this deal — if Ronaldo is considering it — is that it is not just salary for the forward's exploits on the field. It also involves “sponsor deals” and image rights, according to football insider Fabrizio Romano on Twitter.
Some outlets are reporting that the deal is already done and signed. However, Ronaldo's BFF, Piers Morgan, says that's not the case. He took to Twitter on Monday, retweeting a post by Footy Accumulators that called the Al-Nassr move a “done deal.”
Morgan simply wrote, “Again, not true.”
Where will Cristiano Ronaldo sign?
If not Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, where will Cristiano Ronaldo sign? Where will Ronaldo's next team be?
The possible answers fall into one of several boxes.
There are two possible destinations if Ronaldo is done with the highest level of professional football (and Saudi Arabia is out). He could go home to Portugal and sign with Sporting CP. That was the first big club that signed him to its academy at the age of 12 and the first senior side he played for until they sold him to Manchester United at 18.
The other “retirement home” option is MLS in the United States. That is where his primary rival, Lionel Messi, seems to be heading soon, and the marketing opportunities could make him even bigger (if that's even possible) than he is now.
If the aging star still wants to play at the highest levels of the sport for another year or two, there are several clubs with potential interest. Joining Messi at Paris Saint-Germain is a tantalizing option. And new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has been intrigued by Ronaldo since buying the team this summer.
Then, there is also the possibility that Portugal wins the World Cup and Ronaldo decides he's done it all and walks off into the sunset.
Here's what you need to know about Al-Nassr of the Saudi Pro League
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While Piers Morgan did do his best to shoot down the rumors, there haven't been any definitive denials from Cristiano Ronaldo's camp that Al-Nassr isn't an option at all.
If Ronaldo's next team is Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, that is a fascinating choice. The team is one of the best sides in Saudi Arabia, with 27 championships in all competitions since its founding in 1955.
The team has considerable talent already, too, as six of the 26 players on the Saudi Arabia World Cup roster came from Al-Nassr. Only Al-Hilal, with 12 players, had more on the side that stunned Argentina in their opening match.
Al-Nassr has some well-known international talent already as well. Former Arsenal and Napoli goalkeeper David Ospina is on the team, as is Cameroon striker Vincent Aboubakar.
If you're not familiar with his work, check out his walk-off goal vs. Brazil. In Cameroon's final Group Stage match, Aboubakar won the game with a stoppage-time goal. Then he took his shirt off to celebrate with a yellow card already in the books. The ref promptly sent him off with a red card but dapped him up before he did.
So, where will Cristiano Ronaldo sign next? If it is Al-Nassr, it sure will be fun to watch.
