Suiiidi Arabia: Who Awaits Ronaldo In The Middle East?

           It seemed like an eternity that the world awaited an announcement from Cristiano Ronaldo. Aside from his Argentine wife, his five children and Piers Morgan few knew what five time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo (37) had lined up after his fairytale return to Manchester United rapidly evolved into a nightmare. 

 

The Red Devils relied on Ronaldo’s Champions League expertise last season to bail them out as he ended the year as top scorer at Old Trafford, but when United hired Dutchman Erik ten Hag experts anticipated the Portuguese star would soon be shunned out the side to make way for youth.

 

United soon improved without ‘CR7’ in the starting lineup and their once beloved number seven burned the final bridge between himself and Manchester with his viral interview opposite journalist Piers Morgan as the Portugal captain played the victim card. 

 

Despite opening the scoring for Portugal at the 2022 World Cup he infuriated his manager, Fernando Santos, with his reaction to being substituted against South Korea in the final group game. It would prove to be his last Portugal start to date as Santos controversially dropped Ronaldo for the last 16 tie with Switzerland. Just as United had discovered a few months prior Portugal flourished without him as they thrashed the Swiss 6-1. Ronaldo’s replacement in the side Goncalo Ramos even notched a hat trick to further justify Santos’ decision. 

 

Portugal were stunned by Morocco in the quarter finals losing 1-0 and ending the final chapter of Ronaldo’s World Cup career. Exactly four weeks after a tearful Ronaldo stormed down the tunnel in Qatar he was all smiles as a new deal was officially signed. Reportedly worth $200m per year (according to ESPN) Saudi Arabian outfit Al Nassr sealed the deal with one of the greatest players of all time. 

 

            We often hear of players heading to the Middle East to wind down and enjoy the twilight years of their footballing careers but who awaits Ronaldo in Saudi? Who are his new teammates? Who are his competitors for individual and team silverware? 

 

            What has Saudi Arabia got in store for CR7?

 

·       Al Nassr haven’t lifted the league title since 2018/19 with Al Hilal currently on a run of three championships in a row.

 

·       Ronaldo’s new team, Al Nassr, are currently top of the table, four points ahead of Al Shabab, with 29 points. Each team contest in 30 league games per season. 

 

·       Last season’s top goalscorer was ex-Man United and Watford striker Odion Ighalo with 24 goals. The year before that, 2020/21, it was former Swansea man Bafetimbi Gomis who also bagged 24 goals.

 

·       The Saudi Pro League top scorer is currently Al Nassr forward Anderson Talisca with 11.

 

All stats correct as of January 7^th 2022.

 

Here are some familiar names currently plying their trade in the Saudi Pro League:

 

Al Nassr - 

Vincent Aboubakar (30) - One of the league’s top players and a prolific scorer in his own right. Only Samuel Eto’o and Roger Milla have scored more goals for Cameroon than current national team captain Aboubakar. Recent memories of Aboubakar include his delicious chip against Serbia in the World Cup moments before he assisted to make it 3-3. He boasted over a goal every other game at Besiktas across two spells as well as 58 strikes for Porto in just 125 matches. Aboubakar scored the winner in the 2017 AFCON final against Mohamed Salah’s Egypt. Just last year the pair faced off yet again in the 2021 AFCON semi finals (postponed a year to 2022) with Salah prevailing this time round. After the tie ended 0-0 Aboubakar despatched Cameroon’s only penalty out of four meaning Egypt progressed without Salah having to step up. Aboubakar then scored a brace and another penalty in the shoot out as Cameroon claimed bronze in the third place playoff with Burkina Faso. Following the tournament Aboubakar was quick to criticise the Liverpool star insisting he was ‘unimpressed’ and that he could do a similar job at a top European side.

 

Luiz Gustavo (35) - Began his career at Corinthians Alagoana before moving to Hoffenheim where he helped the club secure promotion to the Bundesliga in 2007/08. After another two and a half years at Hoffenheim he was purchased by Bavarian giants Bayern Munich for a fee of around €20m. Gustavo spent another two seasons at Bayern after joining in January 2011 where he reached two Champions League finals and two Pokal finals, winning one of each. Staying in Germany Gustavo moved to Wolfsburg where he would pick up another Pokal medal in year two. He then fled Germany for France and represented Marseille in their Europa League final defeat to Atletico in 2018. After three years at Fenerbahçe he reunited with ex-Marseille boss Rudi Garcia at Al Nassr. Gustavo was a member of the Brazil side who lifted the 2013 Confederations Cup on home soil and was named in the squad for the World Cup the following summer. After missing the quarter final against Al Nassr teammate David Ospina’s Colombia through suspension Gustavo was back for the semi finals. Unfortunately for him he endured all 90 minutes of the 7-1 thrashing from eventual champions Germany.

 

David Ospina (34) - Two time Copa America runner up Ospina spent six years with Nice in France but is known better for his spells at Arsenal and Napoli. During his time with the clubs he won two FA Cups and a Coppa Italia yet played in just one final, the 2017 FA Cup final win against Chelsea at Wembley. His Coppa Italia title came in 2020 against current teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Ospina is perhaps best remembered as a key member of the Colombia side that set the 2014 World Cup alight with their passion and exciting brand of football. He remains Colombia captain and the national side’s record appearance holder.

 

Talisca (28) - A career of such potential, Anderson Talisca traded in the prestige competitiveness of European football for higher wages in Asia at just 24-years-old. Talisca moved to Benfica from Bahia in 2014 and won the league in his first two seasons. He scored a crucial goal for Benfica away to Zenit in the Champions League last 16 to give the Portuguese side just their third quarter final spot (at the time) since the turn of the millennium. Ahead of the 2016/17 season he joined Besiktas on loan, that campaign would see him win the league title, his third consecutive championship in Europe, and famously score a last minute free kick at his parent club Benfica in the Champions League group stages. In 2018 he moved to Guangzhou Evergrande on loan before the move became permanent months later. Despite winning the Chinese Super League in 2019 the CSL experienced financial issues and Talisca headed to Saudi where he currently sits top scorer of the Saudi Premier League and, according to Transfermarkt, is the league’s second most valuable player with a market value of €14m. No points for guessing the league’s most valuable player.

 

Al Shabab - 

Ever Banega (34) - Born in the same city as Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria, Banega left Boca Juniors in 2008 for Spanish club Valencia, there he enjoyed six seasons and even lifted the Copa del Rey in his maiden season. But the following year, 08/09, he was sent on loan to Atletico Madrid. He returned to Valencia after he was sent off twice for Atletico in his only season at the Calderon. Bizarrely, in 2012 Banega spent time sidelined after he was run over by his own car, forgetting to put the handbrake on. A brief loan spell with Newells Old Boys in his homeland signalled the end of his Valencia days and he signed for Sevilla in the summer of 2014 to reunited with ex-Valencia boss Unai Emery. Banega hoisted the Europa League in both of his seasons in Seville, picking up the Man of the Match in the first final, a win over Dnipro. Banega was subbed off in added time in the next final, a 3-1 win over Liverpool, then in his final match for the club he was sent off against Barcelona in added time of the Copa del Rey final defeat. The Argentine bagged his first career hat trick for Inter Milan the following season but spent just one year in Italy before a return to Sevilla. In that one season he collected another Europa League winners medal playing 90 minutes in the 3-2 win over, of all teams, Inter Milan. Banega retired from international duty after the 2018 World Cup, he was part of the squad which lost both the 2015 and 2016 finals on penalties, and even missed his spot kick in the 2015 defeat to Chile. 

 

Grzegorz Krychowiak (32) - Reuniting with Sevilla teammate Ever Banega, Krychowiak joined Al Shabab on loan from FC Krasnodar after FIFA announced that foreign players based in Russia could suspend their contracts following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Like Banega, Krychowiak also started the Europa League final victories in 2015 and 2016, and even scored the equaliser during the 2015 win at his own national stadium in Warsaw. In doing so he became only the fifth Polish player to win Europe’s second most prestigious continental competition. Krychowiak started Poland’s World Cup round of 16 loss to France last month and sits just two caps shy of a century of games for his country, the 6th most capped Polish player. Success at Sevilla saw French giants PSG snap him up for a little over €25m but in three seasons at the club Krychowiak would feature under 20 times for the Parisians. For the 2017/18 season he was shipped off to West Brom on loan and quickly criticised PSG boss and former ex-Sevilla gaffer Unai Emery. That year went from bad to worse as he refused to acknowledge Alan Pardew after being substituted before the hour mark against Leicester in a league fixture. West Brom would be relegated that season and Krychowiak would have to wait until he moved to Lokomotiv Moscow to enjoy his football once more.

 

Al Hilal - 

Luciano Vietto (29) - Vietto earned himself a move to Villareal after years with Argentine side Racing Club. Atletico Madrid saw enough in one year with Villareal to snap Vietto up but after a troubling start he was sent to Sevilla, Valencia and Fulham on loan spells followed by one final permanent European move to Sporting Lisbon before heading to Saudi. With just 47 goals in 176 games during his time in Spain and Portugal Vietto struggled to establish himself in Europe and moved to the Middle East at the age of just 26 in 2020.  

 

Odion Ighalo (33) - A fellow ex-Man United forward now picking up a wage in the Middle East. Fans were stunned when Ighalo joined United on loan from Shanghai Shenhua in 2020. The Nigerian had previous Premier League experience with Watford and in his first season in England’s top flight (2015/16) was joint with Olivier Giroud as 6^th top scorer. More goals than Diego Costa, Sadio Mane or Alexis Sanchez. But the following season Ighalo managed just one goal in 18 Premier League matches before swapping Hertfordshire for Changchun. From Changchun Yatai Ighalo moved to Shanghai Shenhua teaming up with Italian Stephan El Shaarawy in a Chinese football gold rush era. Ighalo later revealed he took a wage cut to join United in what he described a ‘dream move’, although he’s earning it back now with Al Hilal. Last season Ighalo finished as top scorer in the Saudi Pro League with 24 goals on route to a title win.

 

Matheus Pereira (26) - Pereira’s departure from West Brom was inevitable, the Brazilian playmaker was outstanding for the Baggies, most notably scoring a brace at Stamford Bridge in a 5-2 Albion victory in 2021. Pereira kicked off his European career with Sporting Lisbon signing for them at just 14-years-old. After struggling to break into the first team Pereira then spent a year in Nuremberg where he was nominated for Rookie of the Season despite the Bavarian side being relegated at the end of the campaign. In his first season with Al Hilal Pereira lifted the league title and Super Cup yet many were shocked by the transfer given his young age and high potential. Last season he topped the assist charts with 11. 

 

Moussa Marega (31) - French born Mali striker, Marega is most renowned for his success at FC Porto where he netted over 70 goals in less than 200 games, winning two league titles in the process. Marega was pivotal in Porto’s Champions League run to the quarter finals in 2018/19 with only Lewandowski and Messi scoring more goals in the competition. In his first season in Saudi he won the AFC Champions League. Marega claimed to have transferred to Riyadh for religious reasons as a practising Muslim. 

 

Andre Carrillo (31) - The name may ring a bell from a brief stint at Watford but Peruvian Carrillo is best known for his time with Sporting Lisbon. Carrillo was a regular in Lisbon for four season before headed to rivals Benfica where he failed to live up to his high Sporting standards. He boasts three Copa America medals, two bronze, one silver, and started every knockout match in Peru’s run to the final in 2019, their best finish since winning the tournament in 1975. In 2015 he scored Peru’s opening goal in their 2-0 Third Place playoff win against Paraguay. Since Carrillo joined Al Hilal he’s won the league every season, three titles so far.

 

Al Ittihad -

Nuno Espírito Santo (manager) (48) - The man responsible for the rise of Wolverhampton Wanderers from Championship to Europa League within just two seasons. Nuno had a fairly decent spell with Valencia and a solitary silverware-less season to forget at Porto before heading to Wolves. His achievements at Molineux, including their highest finish in English football and first European berth in just under 40 years, earned him a move to Spurs. Yet after less than five months in north London he was replaced by Antonio Conte. Nuno joined Al Ittihad in July and the side currently sit 4th just two points off of Ronaldo’s Al Nassr. 

 

Helder Costa (28) - Signed by Paul Lambert for Wolves in January 2017 for a then record transfer fee of £13m Helder Costa quickly became a fan favourite the following season under ‘compatriot’ Nuno. He was top scorer in his debut season with 12 goals.  Costa was a member of the title winning side in the Championship but saw less game time as Wolves ascending up the English football ladder. Costa wasn’t present for Wolves’ European run in 19/20 as he joined Leeds United where he won a second Championship title. Although he’s still on Leeds’ books Costa joined Al Ittihad on loan for the 22/23 season. He also cored on both his Portuguese and Angolan debuts. 

 

Abha Club - 

Felipe Caicedo (34) - Prem fans may recognise the name from his brief Man City career. Caicedo joined City in January 2008 just nine months before their Middle Eastern takeover but failed to score that season. The following season City signed Kompany, Zabaleta, Wright-Phillips, Robinho, Bellamy, De Jong… it was clear his time was limited. After going on to play for clubs such as Lazio, Lokomotiv Moscow, Inter Milan (loan) and Espanyol the 6th all time top Ecuadorean scorer wound up at Abha Club. 

 

Al Ettifaq - 

Robin Quaison (29) - Having started his career at AIK in his homeland of Sweden Quaison caught the eye of Italian outfit Palermo where he hung around for three years before headed to Germany where he was a standout player for Mainz. Only Alexander Isak (4) netted more goals for Sweden in Qatar World Cup qualifiers.