HOLLYWOOD—A reminder that this life is fleeting and it is fickle, and no one, not me or anyone I know, has another day, let alone another second promised to them. So love louder my friends. Hold the people you care about so much tighter. Be kinder to everyone you meet cause you have no idea what they are going through. Teach that voice in your head to be nicer to yourself. And don’t waste a second of your time on anything that doesn’t bring you happiness. None of us knows what tomorrow will bring. We need to savor every moment as it flies by. Every minute. Better live it. Happy New Year everyone.
What a way to start the New Year! Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is joining Saudi Arabian club team Al Nassr in a deal that will see him play until June 2025. The Saudi club quoted Ronaldo as saying he is “eager to experience a new football league in a different country.” The 37-year-old Portugal team captain is a free agent after leaving major British club Manchester United following a dramatic fallout with some of its management.
The news of Ronaldo’s signing last Friday follows months of rumors and speculation as to whether he would join a Saudi team, as more than one had made sizable offers in the hundreds of millions of dollars. This past summer he turned down an offer from a different Saudi club, Al Hilal, which would have given him a roughly $370 million contract over a number of years. At the time, he chose to stay at Manchester United, claiming he was happy there. According to published reports, Ronaldo’s salary with Al Nassr is estimated at $200 million per year when commercials agreements are included-which, if confirmed, would be the largest-ever salary in the history of the sport.
Ronaldo, 37, is at retirement age for a professional soccer player, so his signing extends his career with a significant financial return. He arrived January 2, 2023 with his family in his private jet in Saudi Arabia to start a new chapter in his career. His partner Georgina was traveling with him as well. Ronaldo, according to published reports will be officially unveiled as an Al Nassr player on Tuesday, January 3, at a welcome ceremony at the club’s 25,000-capacity Mrsool Park stadium.
Ronaldo before arriving in Saudi Arabia uploaded a short video for his Instagram story of himself on the plane, In the video, he was smiling and told his new fans: “I’ll see you soon.”
Ronaldo’s contract at Manchester United saw him earning an eye-dropping $605,000 per week. He is one of the highest-paid athletes in the world. He deserves every penny of it. He suffered so much at a tender age being sent to Sporting Club in Lisbon, Portugal from his hometown of Madeira. The Al Nassr contract will reportedly see Ronaldo taking home more than $1 million per week. The club Al Nassr, founded in Riyadh in 1955, is one of Saudi Arabia’s oldest soccer clubs and has won nine Saudi Premier League titles. The team’s current manager is French national Rudi Garcia, who has an impressive resume. It includes managing top-tier European clubs like Roma, Lille and Olympique de Marseille.
Ronaldo is the highest goal-scorer in the history of professional soccer, with a total of 819 career goals scored as of the end of 2022. He scored 450 goals for Real Madrid, 145 goals in 346 games for Manchester United, 118 for the Portuguese national team and 101 for Italian club Juventus. Besides his soccer achievements his social media presence is amazing. He became the first athlete to surpass a combined 500 million followers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in 2021 and currently has 525 million Instagram followers alone.
Ronaldo played in his last World Cup during the Qatar 2022 tournament, setting a new record as the first man to score in five different FIFA World Cups when he made the winning goal against Ghana. The Portuguese team unfortunately was later knocked out of the tournament by Morocco.
Rose’s Scoop: This month marks my 22-year anniversary writing for this paper. Thank you for your readership and support! Love you all!
