Cristiano Ronaldo has given the latest on his future, amid reports that he could consider a return to Real Madrid this summer.
The veteran forward left Man United to join Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr in January. However, his move has been clouded in uncertainty over the past few weeks, following reports claiming that he could return to former club Real Madrid.
Amid talks of his next destination, Ronaldo insists he will stay in the Middle East.
Ronaldo issues transfer stance
‘I am happy here, I want to continue here, I will continue here,’ he said.
‘And in my opinion if they continue to do the work that they want to do here, for the next five years, I think the Saudi league can be a top five league in the world.
‘I will be part of your world, your culture, I will be here, I hope I make the people enjoy through my games, my performance, and to win things, but again, thank you for welcoming me, and I will try to give my best during the time that I will be here.’
Ronaldo has also spoken about some of the differences he has undergone in training, since moving to Saudi.
He said: “One example is in Europe we train more in the morning, but here we train in the afternoon, or evening and in Ramadan we train at 10 at night – so this is so strange, but as I tell you these situations are part of an experience, memories.”
“I like to live these moments because you learn with these things. It is difficult, but it is nothing I have not seen before. My experience so far is that Saudi fans they really love football and like to live the life and it is good and I am so happy until now.”
Ronaldo has scored 14 goals in 16 games since joining Al-Nassr helping the club to second place in the Saudi Pro League behind Al-Ittihad, who are managed by the Nuno Espirito Santo.
On finishing runners-up, Ronaldo said: “Well, my expectation was a little bit different, to be honest I expected to win something this year, but it is not always the way we think or the way we want, sometimes we need passion, consistency, and persistence to achieve the best things.”
“So, I still believe that next year we will improve a lot, let us say in the last five or six months, the team has improved a lot, even the league, all the teams improved.”
“It takes time sometimes, but if you believe and you think it is your goal, I think everything is possible. I expected to win something this year, but we didn’t, but next year I am really positive and confident that things will change, and we go in a better way. So, let us believe that and work on that.”
