Al-Nassr manager Rudi Garcia has admitted that he would love to work with former Man Utd forward Cristiano Ronaldo amid reports of a £173m transfer.
Ronaldo is without a club heading into the winter transfer window.
His 18-month spell at Manchester United ended on a sour note as his contract was terminated after he hit out at Erik ten Hag, the Glazer family and some of his former teammates.
The 37-year-old found himself as a bit-part player under Ten Hag as the manager seemingly realised that his team could perform better without the veteran involved.
Portugal head coach Fernando Santos appeared to come to a similar realisation at the World Cup as Ronaldo struggled to make an impact in Qatar.
His petulant response to being substituted during the group stages led to him starting as a substitute in Portugal’s two knockout ties against Switzerland and Morocco.
The European side were beaten 1-0 by Morocco in the quarter-finals so Ronaldo’s focus has now switched back to his club situation.
He has been heavily linked with Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr in recent weeks. It has been claimed that they are willing to offer him around £173m a year.
Now Al-Nassr head coach Garcia has admitted that he “would be delighted” if he got the chance to work with Ronaldo.
“I think that any coach would be delighted to train a great star like Cristiano and already, in November 2021, I was very close to going to United,” Garcia told AS (via 90min).
“They chose Ralf Rangnick, but I met twice with John Murtough and Darren Fletcher. I came very close to coaching this club and was very motivated to go, who wouldn’t be motivated to coach United?
“I have always thought that the great players are the easiest to manage because they are very intelligent, I verified this with Francesco Totti at Roma.”
Some recent reports have suggested that Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr is a done deal, but this has been disputed by Fabrizio Romano.
‘Al-Nassr’s proposal is still on the table but Cristiano Ronaldo has not decided anything as of now. He has not accepted that bid,’ Romano wrote for Caught Offside.
‘I’m not in Cristiano’s head so I’m afraid I have no idea of when he will decide his future, but at this stage there’s still nothing agreed, signed or decided.
‘Al-Nassr will wait, while he’s now hoping for European clubs to change the story.’
Ronaldo will likely make a decision within a couple of weeks so he is with his new club by the start of…
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