Cristiano Ronaldo - Much Ado About Al Nassr

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The One and Only
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The string on his tracksuit pants is undone. Standards are slipping.
 

BarryWinks

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The man is 38. How many 38 year olds still play at the highest level?.

He's earned the right to make whatever decision is best for him and his family. We laugh at the man but he could have taken a paycut/sat on the bench for a payday if he was desperate to stay in Europe. I admire that about him at least.

Wish him all the best.
 

Massive Spanner

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The man is 38. How many 38 year olds still play at the highest level?.

He's earned the right to make whatever decision is best for him and his family. We laugh at the man but he could have taken a paycut/sat on the bench for a payday if he was desperate to stay in Europe. I admire that about him at least.

Wish him all the best.
You admire that he went to one of the most horrible countries in the world for a massive pay out that he didn’t even need instead of taking a pay cut to stay in Europe?
 

Nytram Shakes

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Was always a stupid idea bringing him back, he’s gone where he should of gone 2 years ago into semi retirement.
 

Someone

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Not necessarily, my dad worked there as a doctor for years and we went out there to visit a number of times during long hols. It's not as dramatic as one might think in the bigger cities - Riyadh/Jeddah.

Edit:
Obviously terrible things happen there a lot more brazenly than they happen here (not to say there's no dodgy espionage here), but he's not an outspoken anti-governmental political activist or anything so he'll be Ok.
Correct. In terms of human rights it's a terrible place, but in terms of living they've changed a lot in recent years, not as strict as they used to be. MIB pretty much removed most religious restrictions they used to have in the past.
 

rimaldo

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The man is 38. How many 38 year olds still play at the highest level?.

He's earned the right to make whatever decision is best for him and his family. We laugh at the man but he could have taken a paycut/sat on the bench for a payday if he was desperate to stay in Europe. I admire that about him at least.

Wish him all the best.
i think the best part is that no matter how rich it makes him, people laughing at what he’s become would actually really hurt him, and feck am i happy to laugh.
 

Deco10Legend

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They should bench him there as well, I wonder how that would end ahah
 

Fooza

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The man is 38. How many 38 year olds still play at the highest level?.

He's earned the right to make whatever decision is best for him and his family. We laugh at the man but he could have taken a paycut/sat on the bench for a payday if he was desperate to stay in Europe. I admire that about him at least.

Wish him all the best.
Well Ronaldo himself would disagree with your first point, that's why his ego couldn't handle being on the bench for united. He'd rather not be part of a united squad and be playing in Saudi, admire what exactly.
 

Glorio

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Once you do as you are told, under the threat of being murdered.
I can guarantee you neither I nor any of my family was ever threatened - the signs all over their airports that the penalty for drug trafficking is death back then were very scary though (no clue if they're still there).

That said, I once got stopped by religious police for wearing a neck thing they said was forbidden, my dad went ballistic at them and thankfully we settled everything by me taking it off. I was the one trying to make peace and prevent things from escalating! :lol:

It was generally Ok (for a male! My sister and mum hated most thing bar the shopping and the fact they had a female-only swimming pool), you could leave a flat screen TV on your front porch and no one would touch it. There was no real concern for crime, really.

I daresay I wouldn't be surprised if death by non-natural causes was less there than in the UK.
 

Rolaholic

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They're saying that Pélé died yesterday and Cristiano's career died today
 

SCP

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Well, if this doesn’t end his career for Portugal I will start to believe the conspiracy theorists that Santos was fired by him, we will see in a few months.

This is good for some moronic Sporting supporters who actually believed one day he would return, oh well then, he has his name for sponsorship on the Sporting Academy and never went there, I guess money buys everything.

Anyway he is free to do whatever he wants, give him a goodbye match for him and Pepe for Portugal and move on.

On a final note, he should have been more grateful for Manchester United fans, it’s the second time he doesn’t leave the club on the best way, that he feels he is way above Sporting I get that, but showing only respect for Real Madrid is lack of gratitude to a club who developed him to be one of the top players of his generation.

That a guy like Fernandes who played there only 2 and a half years and shows more respect for a club where he didn’t started his career tells a lot about the mindset of the players, even if the other has another football dimension.

End of rant.
 

mu4c_20le

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I can guarantee you neither I nor any of my family was ever threatened - the signs all over their airports that the penalty for drug trafficking is death back then were very scary though (no clue if they're still there).

That said, I once got stopped by religious police for wearing a neck thing they said was forbidden, my dad went ballistic at them and thankfully we settled everything by me taking it off. I was the one trying to make peace and prevent things from escalating! :lol:

It was generally Ok (for a male! My sister and mum hated most thing bar the shopping and the fact they had a female-only swimming pool), you could leave a flat screen TV on your front porch and no one would touch it. There was no real concern for crime, really.

I daresay I wouldn't be surprised if death by non-natural causes was less there than in the UK.
Think it's less about overall security, or rate of people getting arrested, and more about how certain things we might perceive as trivial could be pretty serious over there. Like trash talking the wrong person, or homosexual activity?
 

Orange Tree

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Bye. Should have gone last summer, that way we would've gotten some money out of it.
 

Ted Lasso

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Leaving Manchester United for Al Nassr. Madness and embarrassing (the money is crazy though).
Lot of football fans embarrassing themselves. Extraordinary career which somehow managed to play out in top leagues til 37 is wild. Compare to Xavi going to a Qatar team at age 35 or Iniesta to Japan at 34. This should be neither surprise nor main story news outside the fact that the relationship with United broke down. And that's an old and worn story.
 

BerryBerryShrew

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Most people are perplexed about Ronaldo accepting massive money to play in SA but I'm more confused as to why SA are paying such an enormous amount to bring him over. There's no ROI on this, is there? If they had signed him at his peak, I could understand it but nobody is going to pay attention to Ronaldo now he's past it so what's the point? I can't imagine millions of people suddenly getting a hankering for a holiday with a side dish of beheading/public stoning just because a formerly great botox infused athlete says a few rehearsed things on social media. So wasteful.
 

Balljy

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It's pretty sad for me to see the picture holding the shirt up. His smile shows somebody who's finally realised why he's having to play at that level. Not done too badly for the money in his last few years mind.
 

Lee565

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And there were pundits out there including Roy keane saying that he should have been starting every match for united because he is one of the best in the world and yet a month on and his best offer was in a Saudi league...... how can anyone take these pundits seriously again
 

justsomebloke

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The man is 38. How many 38 year olds still play at the highest level?.

He's earned the right to make whatever decision is best for him and his family. We laugh at the man but he could have taken a paycut/sat on the bench for a payday if he was desperate to stay in Europe. I admire that about him at least.

Wish him all the best.
What, you admire about him that he chooses to take 200 million to play in a shit league and provide glamour and profile to the next mid-east dictatorship bid for the World Cup, after acting with such flagrant lack of professionalism and loyalty that his former club had basically no other option than to cut him loose? He has not earned the right to act like he did at United. In fact, that he chooses to sign to play at this level completely contradicts all his claims about being treated unfairly at United - if this is his level, he obviously had no claim to expect to be starting in the Premier League. His career seen as a whole he's one of the greats and no doubt about it, but who he is now, I do not think deserves much respect. Pity maybe, if he had managed to be slightly less unlikeable.
 
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justsomebloke

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Most people are perplexed about Ronaldo accepting massive money to play in SA but I'm more confused as to why SA are paying such an enormous amount to bring him over. There's no ROI on this, is there? If they had signed him at his peak, I could understand it but nobody is going to pay attention to Ronaldo now he's past it so what's the point? I can't imagine millions of people suddenly getting a hankering for a holiday with a side dish of beheading/public stoning just because a formerly great botox infused athlete says a few rehearsed things on social media. So wasteful.
They're bidding for the 2030 World Cup. They need all the footballing cred and profile they can get.
 

georgipep

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The man is 38. How many 38 year olds still play at the highest level?.

He's earned the right to make whatever decision is best for him and his family. We laugh at the man but he could have taken a paycut/sat on the bench for a payday if he was desperate to stay in Europe. I admire that about him at least.

Wish him all the best.
 

Red Star One

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Most people are perplexed about Ronaldo accepting massive money to play in SA but I'm more confused as to why SA are paying such an enormous amount to bring him over. There's no ROI on this, is there? If they had signed him at his peak, I could understand it but nobody is going to pay attention to Ronaldo now he's past it so what's the point? I can't imagine millions of people suddenly getting a hankering for a holiday with a side dish of beheading/public stoning just because a formerly great botox infused athlete says a few rehearsed things on social media. So wasteful.
He’s still one of the biggest names in football and has giant (is it largest among footballers?) followership in social media - up until today me you and hundreds of millions of others didn’t know what Al Nassr was, now their completely irrelevant league has a multiple ballon d’Or winner and his game there will get attention. Combine that with 2030 bid and you’re buying a man that gets you more legitimacy and glamour than any PR agency or marketing campaign. For them, he’s worth twice the money they pay.
 

Kinsella

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And there were pundits out there including Roy keane saying that he should have been starting every match for united because he is one of the best in the world and yet a month on and his best offer was in a Saudi league...... how can anyone take these pundits seriously again
As I recall, Keane's main point was that he should've left in the summer and that the club should've facilitated his departure.

But he was definitely blinkered about Ronaldo being on the bench.
 

Andy_Cole

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Most people are perplexed about Ronaldo accepting massive money to play in SA but I'm more confused as to why SA are paying such an enormous amount to bring him over. There's no ROI on this, is there? If they had signed him at his peak, I could understand it but nobody is going to pay attention to Ronaldo now he's past it so what's the point? I can't imagine millions of people suddenly getting a hankering for a holiday with a side dish of beheading/public stoning just because a formerly great botox infused athlete says a few rehearsed things on social media. So wasteful.
Hints of racism here but okay.

Like saying coming England to see the Buckingham Palace with a side dish of partying with underage girls with Prince Andrew.