Sports


Ronaldo loan move to Al-Hilal counter-intuitive

Ronaldo loan move to Al-Hilal counter-intuitive

Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), June 17 (UNI) The chief executive of Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal said that a loan move for Cristiano Ronaldo before the Club World Cup would have been "completely counter-intuitive" because he played for their "biggest opponent" Al-Nassr.

Al-Hilal were linked with a possible deal for the 40-year-old Portugal forward after Fifa introduced an additional transfer window earlier this month because of the revamped tournament.

Both rival Riyadh clubs are controlled by the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Ronaldo is out of contract at Al-Nassr at the end of June.

But when asked if they came close to a move for the forward, Esteve Calzada told BBC Sport: "We normally don't comment on players' situations, particularly because our name is always put out there, when a player or an agent wants to negotiate a better deal with his club, or is trying to move out.

"It's been a very weird transfer window, it's a very short period of time.

"You don't want to take a decision thinking about this tournament that then you have to carry on

with for the next two or three years.

"As much as I respect Ronaldo as a huge player, as we all recognise he is, it's certainly completely counter-intuitive that you bring the biggest player of your biggest opponent to play with you.

"Even more when it's only for three to four weeks.

"We've been trying to see if we can reinforce the team. But some players were with a mindset of 'holidays already', some players were sometimes just asking for too much money, and we're aware that our team is extremely competitive.

"We'll go into the traditional transfer window after the tournament still with the biggest ambitions to see if we can reinforce the team even more."

UNI BM

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