Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema landed together at Concha Espina in the summer of 2009, when Florentino Pérez returned to the Santiago Bernabéu, and for nine seasons they formed Real Madrid’s best-ever duo. At least in its most recent era.
With both players in the twilight of their respective careers, their “rebellion” in recent days has shaken Saudi Arabia at the end of what appeared to be a relatively calm market.
Cristiano Ronaldo and João Félix perform the perfect double “Siu”
To understand the situation, it is worth clarifying certain key issues in the recent operation of the Saudi Professional League. With the aim of diversifying the country’s revenue sources, the PIF (Public Investment Fund) is strongly committed to the development of the league and is directly intervening with its four affiliated clubs – Al Nasr, Al Hilal, Al Ittihad and Al Ahly – to accelerate it. From there, other clubs such as Al Qadosia, Al Shabaab, Al Etifaq and NEOM would eventually be owned by some of Saudi Arabia’s most powerful companies.
The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in the winter of 2023 set in motion a machine that has continued to invest exorbitant amounts of money ever since, changing the normal functioning of the market. Karim Benzema joined Al Ittihad six months after completing his contract with Real Madrid, while Al Hilal invested 90 million euros in Neymar.
Less than three years later, Benzema raised his hand. With less than six months until the end of his contract, L’Equipe reported last week that Benzema felt insulted by the renewal offer made by Al Ittihad and therefore would have declared rebellion. In fact, he does not take part in the final duel between al-Fateh and al-Najma.
Al Ittihad manager’s refusal to let Diaby or Kante leave gives the impression that this situation will drag on until their contracts expire in June. However, given the push Al Hilal would have made to secure Benzema’s availability in the winter market, a move to Atletico Madrid for Marcos Leonardo, who is no longer considered an Under-21 player, would make sense. But it’s still strange… given that both clubs are under the control of the PIF, albeit with different sporting directions.
In any case, this move of Benzema, which Al Hilal will make in the last few hours, has angered Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo has also declared his rebellion and will not play for Al Nasr in this afternoon’s match against Al Riyadh, amid a battle for the Saudi Pro League title with Al Hilal. In fact, this is the first official title he has won since arriving in Saudi Arabia.
215 million difference
According to information published in A Bola, Cristiano feels that the PIF does not support all its clubs equally. To a certain extent, he’s not wrong. According to data provided by Transfermarkt, Al Hilal has invested a total of 624 million euros since the summer of 2023, compared to 409 million euros for Al Nasr. Behind them are Al Ahli (380) and Al Ittihad (334), with more even numbers.Highest spending clubs in Saudi Arabia (2023-2026):
Al Hilal: 624 million Al Nasr: 490 million Al Ahly: 380 million Al Ittihad: $334 million Al Qadsia: $213 million
Far from rectifying the situation, the situation worsened in this last window, as Al Nasr only acquired the young Iraqi midfielder Haidiya Abdulkareem from Al Zawra, while Al Hilal strengthened their squad with names such as Kader Meite (Rennes/30), Murad Al Housai (Al Khaleej/8.3), Sultan Mandash (Al Tawun/3.43) and Pablo Mari. (Fiorentina/2) and Rayan Al Dosari (Al Khaleej).
Al Hilal have invested more than $40 million in total in these players, while waiting to finalize deals with Karim Benzema and former Monaco talent Simon Bouabre. However, Al Nasr does not expect any further movement in the last part of the market. This is especially true given the information published in A Bola that Simao Coutinho (Sporting Director) and José Semedo (CEO) have had their powers “frozen” since the beginning of the month by a decision of the Board of Directors.
All this “chaos” only served to further increase the level of “crispness” of Cristiano Ronaldo, who already left very “hot” in the last match between Al Hilal and Al Nasr. After putting Jorge Jesus’ side ahead in the first half, Al Dausari equalized with a penalty after a controversial penalty… and a red card shown to Al Akidi tilted the match in favor of Simone Inzaghi’s side.
It’s clear that this is a melodrama with a lot of edges, and there doesn’t seem to be a simple solution that will satisfy all parties. But in this case, it seems like Cristiano will eventually have to give in…because the longer he prolongs the rebellion, the more he has to lose. Especially if he wants to reach the 1,000 career goal milestone as soon as possible.
