Cristiano Ronaldo has demanded Al Nassr pull off the signing of a player who Lionel Messi admitted he purposely tried to humiliate in a game.
Ronaldo extended his stay with Al Nassr in the summer, penning a new £298 million, two-year contract which keeps with him with the Riyadh outfit until his 42nd birthday.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner is said to have huge power and influence with Al Nassr and Fichajes are reporting that Ronaldo has called for a specific marquee signing in the summer.
According to the report, the Portuguese superstar wants Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski to partner him up top having "exerted direct influence on Al Nassr's transfer market".
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The Poland international is out of contract in the summer and though he has scored 105 goals for Barca, is coming towards the end of his time at the top level in Europe.
Injuries and tactical tweak from Hansi Flick have seen him out of the side, with Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres lining up through the middle in his system.
He still has a fairly impressive four goals in nine appearances for the Blaugrana this term and it's claimed that Al Nassr see him as the ideal player who can take them forward alongside Ronaldo.
The 36-year-old has rejected an offer from Saudi Arabia in the past but Ronaldo' 'express request’ could lead to a different outcome.
Lewandowski is one of the best forwards of the generation and infamously missed on what many believed was a nailed-on Ballon d'Or triumph in 2020 following a stunning treble win with Bayern Munich when the award was nixed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why did Messi feud with Lewandowski?
Messi won it the year after and there was tension between the pair,. In his winning speech, the Argentina icon said that Lewandowski deserved to win the gong the previous year but Lewandowski, in comments which he claimed were taken out of context, said that the words from Messi were insincere.
In response, Messi didn't vote for Lewandowski when he won the FIFA Men's Best Player award for 2021 and he admitted that he went out of his way to try and make a statement when the two met in a World Cup clash.
"Lewandowski's statement in 2021 bothered me because when I won the Ballon d'Or I said what I really felt," he said in an interview with ESPN.
"I ignored him during the game because it was him and I was angry and thought he shouldn't have said what he said. I was very angry. Was I deliberately dribbling because it was him? Yes."
However the two legends were able to bury the hatchet and put the situation behind them, discussing Barcelona after Lewandowski signed for the Catalan giants.
He continued: "After that, we met and talked and agreed that it was a misunderstanding. He was upset because what he said didn't match what was reported.
"Then he went to Barcelona and we talked about many things about the club, the city and everything."
Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Saudi Pro League, Saudi Arabia
Josh Lawless