Cristiano Ronaldo is out of the Al-Nasr squad: What happens with the Portugal captain in Saudi Arabia?

Al-Nasr is among Saudi Arabia’s “Big Four” which also includes Al-Hilal, Al-Ahly and Al-Ittihad – all of whom have invested heavily since the Public Investment Fund takeover in 2023.

Saudi clubs spent about 700 million pounds sterling during the summer of 2023, and Neymar joined Al Hilal for 77.6 million pounds sterling in a distinctive move.

Al Hilal also signed Alexander Mitrovic and Neves from Fulham and Wolverhampton, while Al Nassr included Alex Telles of Manchester United, Aymeric Laporte of Manchester City, Sadio Mane of Bayern Munich, and Marcelo Brozovic of Inter Milan.

Al-Ahly signed Mahrez (Manchester City), Edouard Mendy (Chelsea), and Firmino (Liverpool), while Al-Ittihad acquired N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Fabinho (Liverpool), Jota (Celtic), and others.

But while Al-Ahly, Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal continued to win major titles, Al-Nasr failed to do so.

Amid a general decline in Saudi Arabia’s spending in recent windows, Al-Nasr is also lagging behind newly rising NEOM and Al-Qadisiyah in spending since last summer.

Al-Qadisiyah included Mathieu Retegui from Atalanta and 20-year-old Ghanaian winger Christopher Bonsu Bah from Genk, and only Al-Hilal has spent more on them since last summer.

Al-Nasr signed Joao Felix from Chelsea for £43.7m along with Kingsley Coman from Bayern Munich in the summer, but remained quiet during the January window, despite engaging in a three-way title battle with Al-Hilal and Al-Ahly.

Their title rivals, Al Hilal, signed former Arsenal defender Pablo Mari and highly-rated Rennes striker Mohamed Kader Meite, 18, in this window.

They have also been linked with a move for Benzema, who has been training on his own after falling out with the federation’s management over extending his contract.