With the increasing rumors about the separation of Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo from his famous agent Jorge Mendes, the name of Ricardo Rigovi appeared on the scene, and he gained attention after his prominent role in the transfer of the "Don" to the Saudi victory.

The Portuguese newspaper "Publico" reported - earlier - that Ronaldo's departure from Manchester United and his contract with the Saudi victory coincided with the end of the partnership between him and his agent Mendes and his company.

The Spanish newspaper "El Mundo" talked about the end of cooperation since the last weeks of 2022, when the Portuguese striker demanded his agent to negotiate and reach an agreement to move to Chelsea or Bayern Munich, Germany, and threatened to end the relationship between the two parties in the event of failure to achieve that.

Mendes was unable to achieve Ronaldo's demand, who came out with a sudden dialogue before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and directed harsh criticism of Manchester United management and coach Eric Ten Hag, which precipitated the termination of the Portuguese star's relationship with the English club and terminated the contract that linked the two parties until June. 2023.

Under these circumstances, Rigovi led the negotiations with Al-Nasr, which culminated in the departure of the Portuguese star to Saudi Arabia, and the 43-year-old business agent obtained a commission amounting to 30 million euros, according to the Spanish newspaper MARCA.

personal manager

And the French Press Agency quoted a source close to Rigovi as saying that "he was Ronaldo's personal manager for many years and still is," without confirming whether "Ricky" - as Ronaldo calls him - had replaced Jorge Mendes as an agent.

The agency stated that Rigovi - who hails from Porto, Portugal - became a personal manager of the Portuguese star in 2018 when the player was at Real Madrid, and appeared regularly alongside the Portuguese striker on social networks for at least 10 years.

Ricky worked with Nike between 2000 and 2018, and he convinced Ronaldo to sign a contract in 2003 with the American brand, when Ronaldo was in his infancy at the international level.

The relationship between the two parties has strengthened over the years, and he was the first to embrace Ronaldo after the final whistle of the European Championship 2016 final, with a historic coronation for Portugal.

Before his career with Nike, Rigovi was a youth soccer player in a modest club on the outskirts of Porto, and he played with adults in two amateur teams.

"He integrated very well, he was a sociable person, he played wing, and on the field he had this good aggression," Paulinho Meireles (one of J.D. Oliveira's teammates) told AFP.

He added, "At the end of the season, he found a job in Porto and could no longer reconcile work and football. He already had a sense of business."

Riccardo Rigovi is not the only one in his family to make a career in football;

His brother Pedro launched a player agency last year, and among the most prominent players represented by this company is the Portuguese international William Carvalho, the Spanish player Betis Seville.