Global football icon Cristiano Ronaldo is reportedly in talks with Manchester United over a possible return to the Premier League club.
Al-Nassr’s Ronaldo, who turns 41 on Thursday, went on strike earlier this week in order to halt Karim Benzema’s switch from Al-Ittihad to Al-Hilal. The Portuguese great is said to be unhappy that league leaders Al Hilal have been allowed to sign his former Real Madrid teammate.
All three clubs, as well as Al-Ahli, are majority controlled by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Ronaldo has thrown his toys out of the cot, and is said to be seriously considering leaving the club, which pays him £488,000-a-day (R10 million).
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The news of Ronaldo’s situation in Saudi Arabia is reportedly being followed keenly by Manchester United. Other reports go as far as to claim the club have already initiated talks with the player, who is keen to finish his career at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo previously played for the club in two stints, from 2003 to 2009, and again from 2021 to 2022. In his first spell, he joined the club as a raw, trembling teenager of touch and tease who was taking his first steps in the game, and left six years later for Real Madrid as the best player in the world.
In 2021, after three years in Italy with Jventus, he returned to United in his immaculate maturity, and briefly showed why he was one of the biggest names in world sport. Unfortunately, his time with the club ended after criticising then manger Erik ten Hag after falling out with the Dutchman.
After leaving United, he moved to Saudi Arabia, signing a big money contract with PIF-controlled Al-Nassr.
Whether a return materialises or not, the very idea of Ronaldo back in a United shirt speaks to the strange, unresolved nature of his career’s final chapter. His Saudi move was meant to be a triumphant victory lap, yet it has instead exposed tensions, power struggles and unfinished business. A third spell at Old Trafford would be risky, emotional and deeply divisive – but with Ronaldo, football has never been about safe endings.
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