Cristiano Ronaldo puts transfer rumours to rest following trophy-less first season at Al Nassr

Cristiano Ronaldo's first season in Saudi Arabia ended with a whimper, but with hundreds of millions in wages and unprecedented attention on Saudi football he may not be the last megastar to grace the oil-rich kingdom. The fireworks and euphoria that greeted Ronaldo's gala unveiling in January were in sharp contrast to the close of Al Nassr's season, when the Portuguese sat out a 3-0 win against Al Fateh late on Wednesday.

Despite signing the five-time Ballon d'Or-winner in a two-and-a-half-year deal said to total 400 million euros ($428 million), Al Nassr finished second in the Saudi Pro League without any silverware, although they qualified for the Asian Champions League as a consolation.

"I expected to win something this year, but we didn't," Ronaldo said in an interview broadcast on the Saudi Pro League's social media channels. "But next year I am really positive and confident that things will change, and we go in a better way."

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Ronaldo scored 14 goals in his 16 games, racking up 1,701 minutes on the pitch. But it was a "disappointing season" for Al Nassr, the favourite team of some senior Saudi royals, said Al Riyadiah newspaper's editor-in-chief Moqbel Al-Zabni.

"They needed at least one championship," he said.

Fan frustrations aside, however, the 38-year-old remains a marketing coup for Saudi football and the wider country, which is attempting to reinvent itself as a magnet for tourism and foreign investment.

According to a source close to the negotiations, the major oil exporter is also about to land a "huge" deal for Ronaldo's ex-La Liga sparring partner Lionel Messi, the World Cup-winning Argentine icon.

- 'I will continue here' -

Reports have linked a string of other big names to the Saudi Pro League thanks to the riches of the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth vehicle behind LIV Golf and the purchase of Premier League club Newcastle United, as well as Ronaldo's signing.

Saudi Arabia is also considering bidding for the World Cup, following in the footsteps of its neighbour Qatar, and has already explored joining forces with Egypt and Greece to present a tri-continental option.

Saudi Arabia's lavish spending on sport is often criticised as "sportswashing" -- an attempt to shift the focus from its record on human rights.

The conservative monarchy executed 81 people in a single day last year, outlaws homosexuality and triggered international condemnation when journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

Ronaldo has said little in public since arriving in Riyadh with his model girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez -- a highly bankable influencer with 49.5 million Instagram followers -- and five children.

But in an official interview released on Thursday, he pledged to stay in Saudi next year, and backed the Saudi league to eventually become one of the world's top five.

"We have very good teams, very good Arab players. But they need to improve a little bit more the infrastructure. Even the referees, the VAR system, should be a little quicker," he said. "I think other small things they need to improve. But I am happy here, I want to continue here, I will continue here."

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