Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr only after 'waiting for phone call that never came'

Cristiano Ronaldo only signed for Saudi Arabia side Al-Nassr after finally giving up on a phone call from an elite club that never came.

After being out of work since the end of the World Cup, Ronaldo finally announced that he had finally found a new club, following his departure from Manchester United last month.

The 37-year-old has departed Europe, where he's played his entire career to date, to move to the Middle East, signing a two year deal with his new club.

The move had been quite some time in the making, with no big European clubs making a move for him earlier in the year when he'd still been at United but it was clear he wanted to leave.

The five time Ballon d'Or winner claimed that he was ready to move on from Europe, having won everything he wanted to in the continent.

However, that doesn't seem to fully be the case, with Eintracht Frankfurt having previously confirmed that they were given the chance to sign the forward.

And it seems that the Bundesliga side weren't the only team still in the Champions League that Ronaldo was hoping to get a move to.

According to Spanish outlet Marca, the former Real Madrid star was 'waiting for a call that never came' from Los Blancos, to rejoin them four and a half years after leaving them.

Ronaldo left Real in 2018. Image: Alamy

Ronaldo, who was named in the worst XI at the World Cup, was reportedly training with Los Blancos following his exit from the tournament.

And his son, Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, had also left Old Trafford to go back to the club where his dad is the all time top goalscorer.

However, that clearly wasn't enough for the European champions to think that re-signing their old forward was worth the money he'd have wanted.

With Karim Benzema the current holder of the Ballon d'Or, and leading them to Champions League success last season, it's unlikely Carlo Ancelotti would have seen the need for another striker.

Instead it meant that, following several weeks of negotiations, the Portugal star ended up moving to Al-Nassr, where he'll also become an ambassador for Saudi Arabia's World Cup bid for 2030.

Negotiations to move to the Middle East were reportedly taken out by Ricardo Regufe, rather than agent Jorge Mendes, following reports that Ronaldo fell out with his representative recently.

Mendes wasn't part of negotiations, according to Marca. Image: Alamy

If people need any more proof that moving to Saudi Arabia wasn't exactly what Ronaldo wanted to do, then the man himself has confirmed it in the past.

In an interview in 2015, the five time Ballon d'Or winner said that he wanted to finish his career at the top, claiming he wanted to end with 'dignity.'

And maybe that's too far in the past and obviously people change their minds, but just last month, during the infamous interview that ultimately ended his time in Europe, Ronaldo claimed he wanted to keep playing at the highest level, oh dear.

Topics: Football, Transfers, Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, La Liga, Champions League, Saudi Arabia

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

@Sidler28