Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be registered by Al Nassr yet, debut delayed

Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr debut is on hold as the club cannot yet register him to the squad.

Ronaldo has signed a two-and-a-half year deal with the Saudi Pro League outfit and will reportedly earn a whopping £173 million per season.

He was officially presented as an Al Nassr player on Tuesday and immediately joined in a training session with his new teammates at Mrsool Park.

But Ronaldo is unable to play competitively for the Pro League leaders at this moment in time as Nassr have too many overseas players in their squad.

Rules stipulate that teams can only have eight non-Saudi Arabian players signed on but Ronaldo has become Nassr's ninth foreign addition.

The likes of David Ospina, Vincent Aboubakar, Luis Gustavo, Anderson Silva and Pity Martinez are all Nassr players from outside of Saudi Arabia.

And so Nassr now need to get rid of one of their players in order to meet the player quota.

"Al Nassr has not registered him yet because there is no vacancy for a foreign player," a club official told AFP, as per Metro.

"A foreign player must leave to register Ronaldo, either by selling or by terminating the contract by mutual consent."

Local reports in Saudi state that Jaloliddin Masharipov, who recently changed his shirt number from No.7 to No.77 to accommodate Ronaldo, is the leading candidate to make way for the 37-year-old.

🚨 Cristiano Ronaldo cannot yet be registered with Al-Nassr until a foreigner leaves the club.

The Saudi side has exceeded its quota of foreign players.

(Source: @AFP) pic.twitter.com/HDXcgzrJM0

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) January 5, 2023

Masharipov, from Uzbekistan, looked set to join Egyptian side Al Ahly in the summer but the move fell through.

Nassr's next game was slated for Thursday but the clash with Al Ta'ee has been postponed 24 hours until Friday after heavy rain impacted stadium electricity.

However, it's emerged that Ronaldo could have to wait a little longer for his debut as he is still serving a two-match worldwide ban from his time in England.

He was charged with improper conduct by the FA last year after he appeared to slap an autistic boy's phone out of his hand while heading down the tunnel at Old Trafford, following United's 1-0 loss to Everton.

Ronaldo was hit with a £50,000 fine and two-game suspension, with the ban appearing to carry on to his new club.