By Daily Sports Nigeria on June 17, 2025

The chief executive of Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal says 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."

Calzada was speaking in Miami, where Al-Hilal play Ronaldo's former club Real Madrid in their opening Club World Cup fixture on Wednesday (20:00 BST).

Al-Hilal recently appointed Simone Inzaghi as their head coach but did not make any major signings before the tournament in the United States.

Earlier this month, Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes claimed he rejected a huge offer from Al-Hilal because he still wants to play "at the highest possible level".

"I cannot confirm nor deny that we've been interested in him," added Calzada.

"He's a big player, it fits the profile of player that we think would be good for Al-Hilal, just like many others. We're not refraining from contacting players because we feel they would say no to us.

"The names we are linked with demonstrate the ambition of the club. We believe that we are in a position to pitch [to] any players nowadays."

In recent months, Al-Hilal have also reportedly considered moves for Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez and Napoli striker Victor Osimhen.

While refusing to comment on those specific cases, Calzada did say: "We are targeting the biggest players.

"We are very ambitious, but we need to see hunger from the player himself and the transaction needs to work out both ways.

"The only thing we've been trying to remind players and agents is that yes, we are from Saudi, but we don't print notes here!

"My role as CEO is to make sure we run the club efficiently, so that we can have the biggest budget possible to have big players, but not at any cost.

"That's why sometimes we basically walk away from negotiations, because we still want players extremely keen on coming, and not only looking for the money."

Source BBC Sports

Posted June 17, 2025

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