CRISTIANO Ronaldo was open to a £210million transfer to Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Hilal before the deal fell through, it has been claimed.
The club’s president Fahad ben Nafel claims the move only collapsed due to the side having a transfer ban and it was not the player rejecting the move.
He also insisted he held talks with the 37-year-old striker who wanted to leave Man Utd in the summer.
Ronaldo was offered an eye-watering £2million-a-week contract for two years.
He was set to pocket £210m while there was also a £25m transfer fee going to United.
Ben Nafel said: “Yes, we negotiated with Ronaldo. The problem was not in the money or the principle.
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“Al-Hilal is able to bring in the stars of the world, but it was in the decision of the Sports Arbitration Centre that prevented us from registering the players.
“We did not stop negotiating with the players despite the decision to ban, but we were delaying entering the final stage of the negotiations until the ban was lifted.”
Al-Hilal have a transfer ban due to a fiasco with signing Mohmed Kanno when he was accidently registered for two clubs at the same time.
If the statements from Ben Nafel are true then despite Ronaldo supposedly wanting out of Old Trafford for Champions League football it didn’t stop him not listening to Al-Hilal.
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The size of the bid in full is incredible given CR7’s age and his lack of form recently.
He has netted just once this season – a penalty in the Europa League versus Sheriff Tiraspol.
The Portuguese international has also had his minutes limited this season as he is often used off the bench by Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo continues to start for his country though despite some questioning whether he should given his underwhelming performances.
If Al-Hilal did add Ronaldo to their squad then he would join a team with some familiar faces.
Ex-United striker Odion Ighalo, former West Brom star Matheus Pereira and ex-Porto forward Moussa Marega are all at the club.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
