Al-Hilal president Fahd bin Nafel confirmed that his club came close to being included in Manchester United’s Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo last summer.
It happened during an interview on YouTube’s Socrates Podcast, and we added, “We were optimistic that the arbitration center would decide not to stop Al Hilal from registering players, but that didn’t happen and we respect that decision. “
The Saudi Sports Arbitration Center has ruled to ban Al Hilal’s registration due to the case of player Muhammad Kanu, who signed an official contract with Al Nasr before returning to sign a new contract with Al Hilal. He added: “Of course Al-Hilal can include Cristiano Ronaldo and can negotiate with the best stars in the world.”
Regarding the cost of the deal, bin Nafel said: “It’s impossible to talk about it. We went two ways: negotiations and waiting for the decision of the Sports Arbitration Center until we complete the last stage of negotiations.”
It is worth noting that earlier Western press reports confirmed that Ronaldo received an excellent offer from the Saudi League during the last summer transfer period.