Imagine for a moment entering the twilight of your career, finding none of the most prestigious employers in your chosen field have much interest in your services, and so instead having to reluctantly settle for a gig worth roughly £175million-per-year.
That, according to a report in the Spanish press on Friday, is the lot that awaits Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia. Marca say the Portuguese forward, having found no willing (or financially viable) suitors among Europe’s biggest clubs, is set to join Al Nassr, initially on a two-and-a-half-year playing contract, with a view to an ambassadorial role beyond that.
The sums being quoted are not only eye-watering but unprecedented - according to Forbes, Kylian Mbappe was football’s highest earner last year on a pre-tax salary of $110m at Paris Saint-Germain - and while reported earnings can often be worth interpreting with a pinch of salt, the bottom line is that Ronaldo, at 37 and well past the peak of his powers, is set to become by an astronomical margin the best-paid footballer of all-time.
It says everything about football’s perverse workings that such a payday is symbolic of one the greats’ inevitable but hardly graceful decline, stark against the backdrop of Lionel Messi’s priceless World Cup triumph, which in the eyes of many has finally drawn the Argentine clear of his career-long rival.
The Piers Morgan interview, the fading role and then effective sacking at Manchester United, the “unattached” label next to his name on World Cup team sheets, the cameras panning to the Portuguese bench as Gonçalo Ramos reeled off a hat-trick, the Irish exit and tears in the tunnel - each of these has contributed to the image of a man increasingly raging against the dying of the light. Europe’s best teams have decided that Ronaldo the footballer is no longer worth everything else that comes with him.
So why, at such extraordinary expense, have Saudi decided that he is? As mysteries go, it is not one that would take Scooby and the gang a full episode to work out.
Ronaldo, for all his legacy may have been tarnished, in the short-term at least, by the tiresome sagas of recent months, remains one of the most marketable sports stars in history. He is the most followed person on Instagram, with well over 500m followers, and while tens, even hundreds, of thousands of fans in English football, in particular, may have become wearied by a grown man’s childlike petulance, they pale in comparison to the millions worldwide for whom “CR7” remains an icon, evidenced by the roar that still greeted his name or face on any stadium big screen in Qatar.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s global charm offensive is built around sport, potentially to an even greater degree than its Gulf neighbour, who have just spent more than $200m on hosting the World Cup.
Efforts have so far concentrated on outward reach - think buying Newcastle United or setting up LIV Golf - or else in attracting the planet’s most recognised sports stars and brands to its own shores in the fashion of a Formula One Grand Prix and boxing world title fights.
But Ronaldo’s presence in the Saudi Pro League would be clear as the state’s most sizeable achievement in drawing global eyeballs towards its own domestic sporting product which, so far, has only really been the case in horse racing. For the status of the Pro League itself, Ronaldo’s arrival would be akin to David Beckham’s in MLS in putting the competition on the broader map.
Ronaldo’s presence in the Saudi Pro League would be clear as the state’s most sizeable achievement in drawing global eyeballs towards its own domestic sporting product
Football fan culture in the country is on the rise, evidenced by the superb following the national team took to Qatar, with Saudi fans among the most vibrant groups in Doha and the atmosphere at their stunning group stage victory over Argentina at Lusail Stadium arguably the tournament’s best.
Above all, Saudi Arabia wants a World Cup of its own and will surely get one sooner rather than later, if Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visible presence in Qatar and close relationship with Fifa president Gianni Infantino is anything to go by.
To that end, the most significant element of Ronaldo’s proposed Saudi deal may well be its rumoured length: the ambassadorial element of the agreement is said to run until 2030, when there is a World Cup scheduled with hosting rights still to be decided.
