Cristiano Ronaldo’s £173m ‘deal’ as he snubs Newcastle Utd for next club

Former Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly agreed a mega-money contract with Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr following his sudden departure from Old Trafford.

The Portuguese forward ensured his days were numbered with the Red Devils when he gave an explosive TV interview to Piers Morgan, in which he criticised the club’s owners, manager Erik ten Hag and some of his team mates - and shortly afterwards agreed to leave ‘by mutual agreement’. The player is thought to have wanted to stay in top-level football; however, according to Spanish publication Marca, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner is now poised to sign a whopping £173million-a-year contract with Al Nassr.

The Daily Mail claimed, however, that this follows on from unsuccessful talks with Newcastle United and Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes.

When asked previously, head coach Eddie Howe said of Ronaldo: “He’s an outstanding player. If you look at his goal record last year, it was incredible. For me, the transfer has worked, it’s been a success.

“He scored some massive goals last year, and some really late important goals in the Champions League. He’s still an outstanding player and should never be underestimated.

“We’re trying to provide long-term growth, we’ve got a longer-term vision. At the moment, we have quite an ageing squad, so we probably need to invest in more young players. That’s probably a big part of our progression, really.

“We need to get the average age down, so it might not be a signing that we would necessarily look to make – but not under-estimating the quality of the player.”