'Maybe With Sporting...': Ex-Manchester United Coach Endorses Cristiano Ronaldo's Sporting CP Move

Al-Nassr and Al-Raed battled to a 1-1 draw at the Al-Awwal Stadium in a fiercely fought Saudi Pro League game on Thursday, August 22, 2024. Opening the score for Al-Nassr in the 34th minute with a powerful header, Cristiano Ronaldo marked his first goal of the season. Al-Raed matched, however, with Mohamed Fouzair's 49th-minute penalty. After a fierce exhibition of football, the game ended with a shared point for both teams despite Ronaldo's efforts and a disallowed goal because of offside. According to several reports, Cristiano Ronaldo is not happy with the current attack of his team, as it is very evident that the Portuguese GOAT takes all the burden on his shoulders and scores the majority of his team’s goals. 

It is important to note that his contract with Al-Nassr ends after the current season. Ronaldo’s future after that remains uncertain, whether he will continue his playing career. But given his recent performances, he has shown no sign of stopping and is still at one of the top levels of his game.

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Will Cristiano Ronaldo return to Sporting CP after his Al-Nassr’s contract expires?

Manchester United ex-coach Rene Meulensteen has voiced his opinion that Cristiano Ronaldo may return to European football. Meulensteen is sure that the legendary Portuguese footballer still has a future in Europe even if Ronaldo is now playing for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

Ronaldo's contract with Al-Nassr ends next summer has generated further conjecture about a potential return to Europe. Meulensteen, an assistant coach under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, has said he sees Ronaldo returning to European leagues.

He expressed his ideas in an interview with The Gambling Zone:

"There would be some romance in Cristiano Ronaldo returning to Europe to finish his career off. But, one of the problems we saw with Portugal is that the focus becomes all about Ronaldo. It was all too focused on him, which didn’t help, even though Ronaldo can still do a job as long as he understands his role and what he can contribute."

"He also needs to understand that he’s not the same player anymore, not the same as Cristiano Ronaldo when he was 28. He can still play an important role in many aspects. So yeah, I think it would be nice for a lot of reasons if he returned to Europe, maybe with Sporting. It will be really interesting to see when eventually he announces his retirement from football," Meulensteen added.

By mutual agreement, Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United in November 2022 and joined Al-Nassr in 2023, ending his European career. His departure came after his well-publicized December 2022 Piers Morgan interview.

Since then, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has had a big influence with 61 goals and 16 assists in 67 games for the Saudi Pro League club.