By Melody Gross 
CR7’s right-hand man, Riccardo Regoff, is in Riyadh and the deal with Al Nasr could be in effect for hours. The Portuguese international has given the go-ahead to intensify negotiations with the Saudi club and could join his personal assistant in the coming days. The contract will be valid until 2025.
Saudi Arabia no longer hides its enthusiasm for the imminent arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, and today could be a stage of important progress towards completing a deal that seemed out of the question before the start of the current season.
According to our findings, CR7’s personal assistant, Riccardo Regoff, arrived in Riyadh on Thursday and spent the day meeting with representatives for Al Nasr. The overall agreement between the two parties will still be dependent on some modifications, but it may precipitate in the next few hours. And after announcing a waiting period prompted by the possibility of proposals from European football, the captain of the national team gave the green light to intensify negotiations with the Saudi emblem, and he may join his assistant in Riyadh in the coming days.
Yesterday, the newspaper “Marca” highlighted the sums involved in Ronaldo’s victory bid. According to the Spanish publication, the striker has a contract valid until the summer of 2025 and will receive – between a large salary, advertising revenue and image rights – around 200 million euros to be divided over two and a half years. Link to the logo, which is based in Riyadh.
The latter, in order to comply with the financial fair play assumptions set by the Saudi Federation, will already be preparing to leave two of the best paid players in the squad on the orders of Rudi Garcia: Argentine winger Betty Martinez (who may return to his homeland) and Uzbek midfielder Masharipov.
However, Ronaldo could still leave Riyadh with bigger pockets if he agrees to join Messi as a tourism promoter in Saudi Arabia, in a controversial future agreement clause.
Silence on the role of ambassadors
The newspaper “Marca” also wrote that Ronaldo suggested appearing between 2025 and 2030 as ambassador for the future candidacy of Saudi Arabia – along with Egypt and Greece – for the 2030 World Cup. If it is organized, he will oppose the candidacy of Portugal and Spain. Ukraine are in the same event and having the best Portuguese player of all time on the other side of the barrier will certainly cause discomfort. Contacted O JOGO, the FPF declined to comment on the matter.