Cristiano Ronaldo ‘pushing’ Al Nassr to sign ‘transformative’ Man City star with ‘£49m offer prepared’

According to reports, Cristiano Ronaldo is ‘pushing’ Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr to sign Manchester City midfielder Mateo Kovacic.

Ronaldo was one of the first big-name footballers to jump to the Saudi Pro League as he joined Al Nassr at the start of 2023 after his Man Utd contract was terminated.

The Portugal international has 68 goals in his 74 appearances for Al Nassr and Sadio Mane, Aymeric Laporte and Marcelo Brozovic have since joined him in signing for the Middle East outfit.

Last season, Al Nassr finished second in the Saudi Pro League and they have started this campaign with one win and a draw.

The transfer window in Saudi Arabia closed on Monday and a report from CBS Sports claims Al Nassr ‘had hoped’ to sign Man City star Kovacic ‘on deadline day’.

The 30-year-old left Real Madrid to join Chelsea during the 2018 summer transfer window. He made over 200 appearances for the Premier League giants before joining Man City for around £25m plus add-ons ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.

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Kovacic was one of Chelsea’s most consistent performers during his time at Stamford Bridge, but they cashed in on him as he was nearing the end of his contract and they were looking to decrease the average age of their squad.

The Croatia international impressed as he made 46 appearances for the Premier League champions last season across all competitions and he’s started all four of Man City’s games at the start of this campaign.

The report from CBS Sports claims Ronaldo has been ‘pushing’ for Al Nassr to sign Kovacic and after failing to sign him on deadline day, they are ‘likely to go back in for him in January’.

It is claimed that they are trying to ‘lure him with $1 million-a-week wages’. This equates to around £759,000 per week, so his deal would be worth around £49m a year.

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The report reveals.

‘Al-Nassr are targeting Croatia midfielder Mateo Kovacic in the January transfer window with a pay package worth over $1 million a week designed to snare the Manchester City midfielder, according to CBS Sports sources.

‘The Saudi Pro League side had hoped to make Kovacic a marquee deadline-day signing on Monday but was unable to shift Sadio Mane and create the international space needed for a player whose acquisition, per sources, has been heavily championed by Cristiano Ronaldo.

‘The Saudi side is also considering a move for free agent Adrien Rabiot and awaits interest from Turkiye in both Mane and Anderson Talisca.

‘Al-Nassr and their star forward Ronaldo view the Croatian midfielder as a potentially transformative addition to their team and are intending to make City a sizeable offer when the window reopens at the start of 2025.

‘Sources close to the club indicate that the fee they were prepared to pay on deadline day would have been one of the most expensive ever paid by a Saudi club. In addition to the sizeable fee they had been prepared to offer City, Al-Nassr had intended to offer a salary understood to be worth in the region of $65 million a year for Kovacic, roughly six times what he currently earns.’