Al Hilal chief executive Esteve Calzada has insisted there was no truth to suggestions they could sign Cristiano Ronaldo to play at this summer’s Club World Cup.
Ronaldo’s current employers, Al Nassr, did not qualify for the tournament, which features old foe Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. It was strongly suggested that Ronaldo, whose contract expires this summer, could join a team solely for the purpose of featuring in the Club World Cup before resolving his long-term future later in the summer.
Among the options suggested was a potential move, either loan or permanent, to Al Hilal. Like Al Nassr, the Saudi champions are owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and it was speculated that the group could move Ronaldo to their only Club World Cup representatives to get more eyes on the tournament and on Saudi football as a whole.
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Ronaldo, however, ultimately confirmed he would not go to this summer’s tournament, and Calzada has now insisted a switch to Al Hilal was never an option for the Portugal international.
“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,” he told BBC Sport.
“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.”
While Al Hilal did not pursue Ronaldo’s signature, the Al Nassr forward did have the opportunity to take part in the Club World Cup. Moroccan outfit Wydad Casablanca made an ambitious approach but found Ronaldo to be accepting of the prospect of missing out on the competition.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘A Huge Player’—Al Hilal Chief Reveals Truth Behind Cristiano Ronaldo Club World Cup Links.
