‘I will not be at the Club World Cup’: Cristiano Ronaldo rules out USA visit
Cristiano Ronaldo has issued a clear update on his potential participation in this month’s Club World Cup.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner‘s future has been the subject of intense speculation since the end of the Saudi Pro League season, after which he hinted strongly that his days at Al-Nassr were over.
Gianni Infantino, FIFA president and football’s globetrotting emperor, fuelled rumours in a buttock-clenchingly cringeworthy appearance with YouTuber Darren Watkins, known to his millions of subscribers as ‘IShowSpeed’ for some reason.
Infantino claimed that there were discussions to facilitate Ronaldo’s appearance at the Club World Cup despite Al-Nassr not competing. While Ronaldo’s people were apparently unimpressed about Infantino’s suggestion, the 40-year-old has indeed been speaking to some suitors.
But he told reporters at a press conference before the Nations League final between Portugal and Spain that a summer trip to the USA is off the table.
“I will not be at the Club World Cup,” said the Portugal captain, who has played a record 220 times for his country, adding that a decision on his future is imminent.
“Some teams reached out to me. Some made sense and others did not, but you can’t try and do everything. You can’t catch every ball.
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“You can’t go to everything. You have to think short, medium and long term. I’ve pretty much made up my mind not to go to the Club World Cup, but I’ve had plenty of offers.”
According to BBC Sport the likely outcome is an extended contract for Ronaldo at Al-Nassr, where he has been playing for the last two years after leaving Manchester United for a second time.
If he does stay at the PIF-owned club in Riyadh, Ronaldo will be looking in on Infantino’s colossal vanity project from the outside.
The Saudi Pro League’s only representative in America this month will be Al-Hilal, who managed to prise manager Simone Inzaghi away from Inter Milan in time to take charge at the Club World Cup.
Al-Hilal, also majority-owned by PIF and also located in Riyadh, will begin their campaign in Miami against Ronaldo’s former club, Real Madrid. Pachuca and Red Bull Salzburg, who qualified as the ninth-best ranked eligible team in the UEFA four-year ranking, complete Group H.
Ronaldo won’t be at the tournament in the USA with them or anyone else but Al-Hilal have no shortage of big names. Former Premier League stars Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Joao Cancelo all play for Inzaghi’s new team.
The former Inter boss has also linked up with ex-Serie A midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, with whom he worked at Lazio, and Brazilian winger Malcom, previously of Barcelona.
Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan, United Arab Emirates outfit Al Ain and South Korea’s Ulsan HD will also be flying the flag for the Asian confederation.
But Ronaldo’s focus in the meantime is Portugal, who beat Germany to set up a mouth-watering all-Iberian Nations League final in Munich on Sunday.
The winner will become the first two-time Nations League champion since the competition was introduced in 2018.
