Cristiano Ronaldo's relationship with Jorge Mendes is reportedly reaching boiling point following the forward's exit from Manchester United last month.
The 37-year-old is looking for a new club after United confirmed that Ronaldo is set to leave the club by mutual consent following his controversial interview with Piers Morgan. During the bombshell chat, which was aired over two parts, the striker claimed he had been "betrayed" by United and manager Erik ten Hag, who he says had made attempts to force him out of the club.
Now, Spanish publication AS have reported tension between Ronaldo and Mendes has 'rocketed' over his future. It is claimed clubs are going straight to Ronaldo to discuss potential moves, bypassing his agent in the process. The uncertainty surrounding where Ronaldo will next play his football has 'eroded' the relationship - but this isn't the first time there has been apprehension between the duo.
A similar episode happened before, when Ronaldo left Juventus to re-join United, and then they redressed the situation. But with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner without a club for the first time since he was first represented by Mendes in 2003, tensions are beginning to rise.
Mendes and Ronaldo started worked together following the latter's switch to United from Sporting Lisbon - a move that really kickstarted the attacker's career. The 56-year-old then helped sanction his world record £80million move to Real Madrid in 2009, and then another big-money transfer to Juventus nine years later.
But with Ronaldo turning 38 in February, there has been a huge debate about where the star will next play his football. One interested party in Ronaldo's services is supposedly Antero Henrique, head of the Qatar Stars League.
Henrique is said to have gone straight to Ronaldo to enquire over a possible transfer to the gulf nation following Portugal's exit from the World Cup. Fernando Santos' side crashed out of the tournament at the quarter-final after a shock 1-0 defeat against Morocco on Saturday, with Ronaldo scoring once at the competition.
AS claim that he is hoping Ronaldo will join a Qatari club but Mendes is working on a different proposal. There has been reports that Ronaldo could be set to join Saudi Arabia giants Al-Nassr in a mouth-watering move on January 1.
Al-Nassr manager Rudi Garcia recently spoke of his excitement of possibly linking up with Ronaldo after the striker was linked with a move to the club.
"I think that any coach would be delighted to train a great star like Cristiano and already in November 2021 I was very close to going to United," Garcia told an interview with Diario AS. "They chose Ralf Rangnick, but I met twice with John Murtough and Darren Fletcher [United's director of football and technical director respectively].
"I came very close to coaching this club and was very motivated to go, who wouldn't be motivated to coach United? Any coach. United's simple interest has allowed me to be sure of my ambitions in the future.
"I have always thought that the great players are the easiest to manage because they are very intelligent, I verified this with Francesco Totti at Roma."
Ronaldo could be caught in a transfer tug of war between two Saudi Arabian clubs, as Al Nassr's Riyadh-based rivals Al Hilal have also registered an interest in his signing. However, sources close to Ronaldo the Mail reported that rumours suggesting Ronaldo is close to move to Al-Nassr were 'nonsense'.
