Cristiano Ronaldo was announced as an Al-Nassr player on Tuesday after joining the Saudi Arabian club on a two-and-a-half-year deal.
The Portuguese forward left Manchester United by mutual termination after he went public with his grievances in an interview with Piers Morgan, taking aim at his new manager Erik ten Hag and the Glazer ownership among other things. Given his comments, Ronaldo expected a number of European clubs to come in for him but he ended up at Al-Nassr.
He is, however, receiving a handsome pay packet in the Middle East. With wages and commercial payments, Ronaldo will reportedly earn around £175m per season in Saudi Arabia making him the highest-paid player in football history.
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Ronaldo was greeted in Al-Nassr's stadium by thousands of fans wanting to see their new signing and because of his arrival, the club sold out their next game against Al-Ta'ee with all 28,000 tickets snapped up.
However, fans who are attending the match just to see Ronaldo will be disappointed as the forward will not be playing. Due to an FA charge received in November, Ronaldo is not eligible for Al-Nassr's next two games.
Ronaldo was fined £50,000 and received the suspension after lashing out at the hand of a young fan after a United game against Everton last season and subsequently damaging his phone. After a long investigation, the charge was then decided late last year.
Due to the World Cup, Ronaldo was not able to see out these games while at United and a FIFA ruling dictates that any suspensions carry over when a player transfers. This means the 37-year-old will not be available until Al-Nassr's game against Ettifaq later in the month.
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