too many foreigners, he is not registered yet (and is still disqualified) – Corriere.it

When everything seemed ready for his debut with the Al-Nassr shirt, to start the last (and very rich) phase of his career in the Middle East, there was a unexpected for Cristiano Ronaldo. And to be honest, a real problem. According to reports from Saudi Arabia, the Portuguese champion has not yet been registered by the Riyadh club.

And for this reason CR7 will not be able to take the field in tomorrow’s championship match, Friday 6 January, against Al Ta-ee (and, moreover, a two-match ban imposed by the English FA is also pending on the attacker). The reason? A Riyadh source who requested anonymity, says that Al-Nassr has exceeded the number of eligible foreigners. In the Saudi league every team can have them up to eightbut with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, the team of Rudi Garcia, former Roma coach, has nine and therefore before being able to field the multiple Ballon d’Or winner he must sell one.

Taking into account that the Colombian goalkeeper ex Napoli Ospina, the Brazilians Luiz Gustavo and Talisca and the Cameroon striker Vincent Aboubakar are considered non-transferable, Al-Nassr’s choice will be one of the other four. The main suspect, according to a club source, the Uzbek midfielder Jalaluddin Masharipov which, curiously, also the one who so far wore the number 7 shirt giallobl team, which will now pass on the shoulders of CR7.

There are ongoing negotiations for the sale of one of our foreigners – said the source of the new Portuguese team -, but they are not yet in the final phase. As soon as the membership issue is resolved, however, Al-Nassr will have another problem to solve. This is precisely the two-match ban imposed on the player by the English Football Associationrelating to when CR7 knocked over a small fan’s mobile phone as he left the pitch after Manchester United’s defeat to Everton in April 2022.

The FA had then specified, after Cristiano Ronaldo’s farewell to the Red Devils, that the provision was valid globally and therefore it also had to be applied in the championship in which the former Real Madrid and Juventus striker went to play. So, also in the Saudi one. Will Al-Nassr and Rudi Garcia get over it? Who knows. Because the club is working to understand if it is possible to overcome the problem with a legal loophole, so as to be able to anticipate the debut of its new star.