Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo (37, Portugal)'s final destination has been confirmed as Al Nasr, a professional soccer player in Saudi Arabia.



Al-Nassr announced on Twitter on the 30th (local time) that he had signed a contract with Ronaldo.



According to the British daily Guardian, the contract period runs until the summer of 2025.



Through the club, Ronaldo said, "I want to experience a new league in another country. I am happy to be with my teammates. Together we will help this team achieve greater achievements."



This is Ronaldo's first time playing for an Asian club.



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Al-Nassr said, "History has been made. This contract is encouraging not only for our team, but also for the league, our country and future generations. Ronaldo, welcome to your new home."



The two sides did not disclose specific conditions, but the Guardian explained that Ronaldo receives 200 million euros (about 268.3 billion won) annually, which includes not only wages but also profits from commercial rights such as advertising and portrait rights.



According to reports, Ronaldo will surpass Kylian Mbafe (24, France) of Paris Saint-Germain, who is currently the world's highest paid player, to become the number one player in this category.



According to Forbes, an American economic magazine, Mbappe's annual salary is estimated at £106.7 million (167.7 billion won).



In addition, the American CBS broadcast predicted that Ronaldo would have considerable influence in his club.



Citing a source familiar with the contract, the broadcast said, "(Al-Nasr) will become 'Ronaldo FC'" and predicted that Ronaldo would speak out about team management, such as appointing a manager.



Ronaldo, who played for Manchester United (Man United) in the English Premier League (EPL), terminated his contract with Manchester United last month.



After an interview criticizing Manchester United's executives and manager Erik Ten Hag, Ronaldo was effectively released from conflict with the club.



Al Nasr has since been consistently mentioned as his next destination and there have been reports recently that he is in the process of finalizing his contract.



Ronaldo, who made his professional debut at Sporting (Portugal) in 2002, joined Manchester United in 2003 and played for six years under the training of former coach Alex Ferguson, growing into a special player.



He started his career at Real Madrid (Spain).



He has emerged as one of the greatest stars in football history, winning the Ballon d'Or five times and the European Champions League (UCL) five times.



Lionel Messi (35, Paris Saint-Germain), who led Argentina to victory in the World Cup in Qatar, enjoyed football fans by forming a 'rival of the century', but recently he seems to be behind Messi.



Ronaldo, who returned to Man United last year through Juventus (Italy), showed off his rust-free skills by scoring 18 goals in the English Premier League (EPL) even until the 2021-2022 season, but from this season his skills have clearly declined.



Before the opening of the season this summer, he said that he would go to a team in the European Champions League (UCL), causing a 'transfer commotion' and failing to digest the pre-season properly, so he could not show off his cool performance.



Ronaldo, who scored only 3 goals in 16 appearances this season in the league and UEFA Europa League, was completely pushed out of the main competition.



In the end, Ronaldo, who could not find a team to play in Europe after parting ways with Manchester United, took the hand of Al-Nasr, who has connections in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.



This team won the 2018-2019 season, but since then, it has been handed over to Asia's prestigious Al-Hilal.



It is also the original team of Kim Jin-soo (Jeonbuk), who is in charge of the left side of the Korean national soccer team.



Kim Jin-soo joined Jeonbuk Hyundai in the K-League 1 last year as a loaner.



This could see Ronaldo face off against a K-League team in the Asian Champions League (ACL) within the duration of his contract.



Al-Nasr is running second in the league in the 2022-2023 season (7 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss).



(Photo = Getty Image Korea)