Ronaldo lost, Benzema ends up in Al Hilal after all

Cristiano Ronaldo protested, went on strike, and Portuguese media immediately began writing about his departure from Saudi Arabia… But he failed to stop the transfer window there. In the very final stage of the winter market, the direct rivals of Ronaldo’s club Al Nassr began strengthening their squads. The biggest and most high-profile signing is certainly Karim Benzema, whose transfer from Al Ittihad to Al Hilal was confirmed just minutes after the window officially closed. Benzema signed with Al Hilal for a year and a half and arrived on a free transfer from archrival Al Ittihad, with whom he parted on bad terms. For two and a half years, Benzema was the biggest star of Al Ittihad, winning two league titles, but when it came time to negotiate an extension, he received a cold shower.

His fixed salary at Al Ittihad was 42 million euros but together with marketing rights and money for promoting Saudi Arabia as an ambassador, it rose to as much as 100,000,000 per year. He wanted those terms to continue after June, when his contract was set to expire, but the club offered him zero euros in fixed salary—while allowing him to keep the marketing and ambassador income. It hit him hard; he stopped training and immediately began searching for a new club. He quickly reached an agreement with fierce rival Al Hilal, and Al Ittihad didn’t even want compensation for the remaining six months just to get rid of him after the chaos he caused in the dressing room.

Then Cristiano Ronaldo stepped onto the scene with his strike, believing that the state and the PIF fund, which owns the four biggest clubs, were directly favoring Al Nassr’s rivals Al Hilal and Al Ittihad. He threatened to leave, and the Saudi Pro League leadership temporarily banned the completion of agreed transfers involving Al Ittihad and Al Hilal. Al Ittihad had arranged a swap with Fenerbahce involving N’Golo Kante and Youssef En-Nesyri and was also working on several other deals from Europe. However, Ronaldo’s threats did not succeed, and the state gave the Pro League leadership the green light to unblock the transfer window for the big clubs and allow them to finish their business.

When CR7 protests, entire Saudi Arabia stops! Ronaldo blocks transfers of Benzema, En-Nesyri & Kante

Thus, Benzema’s move to Al Hilal was confirmed first. The initial agreement was for six months, but they later settled on an 18-month partnership. Benzema will likely have a pharaonic salary at Al Hilal as well, although there is still no information about the exact figure. Alongside Benzema, Al Hilal strengthened their squad with two more French players: Rennes striker Kader Meite (18) and midfielder Simon Buabre (19) from Saudi club Neom. Meïte arrived from Rennes for 30,000,000 upfront, plus 3,000,000 in bonuses and 10 percent of any future sale. Buabre joined the ambitious Saudi project Neom from Monaco last June for 10,000,000 and impressed the Saudis within just a few months. Al Hilal reacted immediately and confirmed his transfer tonight for 23,000,000 euros plus 20 percent of any future sale.

Ronaldo refuses to play for Al Nassr

With the arrival of the three Frenchmen, Al Hilal now has as many as 14 foreign players in the squad, while league rules allow only 10 to be registered, two of whom can be under the age of 21 as bonus spots. The eight standard places are currently occupied by Benzema, goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, defenders Kalidou Koulibaly and Theo Hernandez, midfielders Sergej Milinković-Savić, Ruben Neves, and Malcom, and striker Darwin Nunez. Joao Cancelo has left for Barcelona, while Brazilian youngster Kaio Cesar has been loaned to Corinthians. Marcos Leonardo’s transfer to Atletico collapsed last night, so he remains in contention for one of the two bonus spots alongside the aforementioned Frenchmen Meïte and Buabre, as well as Turkish defender Akdžiček. Spanish veteran Pablo Marí, who recently arrived from Fiorentina, will not be registered for the league but only for the AFC Champions League.

You don't mess with Karim Benzema

Al Hilal looks significantly stronger than before this transfer window; we will see what Al Ittihad will look like. Benzema is gone, and another big star, N’Golo Kante, is set to follow. He waited all day for the league’s green light to complete his move to Fenerbahçe. The Turkish club will pay four million euros to Al Ittihad for Kante and send Youssef En-Nesyri in return as a replacement for Benzema, after the Moroccan rejected moves to Juventus and Zenit this January. Only the official confirmation of the swap is pending. In addition to En-Nesyri, Al Ittihad secured another striker just in case—19-year-old Nigerian center-forward George Ilenikhena from Monaco for 33,000,000 upfront and 3,000,000 euros in bonuses. Their target was also young Portuguese midfielder Gustavo Sa from Famalicao, for whom they offered 25,000,000, but the Portuguese club hesitated all day, and it is still unclear whether the transfer went through or collapsed.

As for Ronaldo, who stirred up this entire mess, it is telling that Portuguese outlet Record, which is known to have a good relationship with him, immediately published a report saying that his contract contains a clause allowing him to leave this June if someone pays 50,000,000 in compensation. Clubs from MLS and Europe are reportedly in the mix, although it is doubtful they would spend that kind of money on a player who will turn 41 this year. That leaves the Saudis—so we will see how they respond to such ultimatums. Or perhaps Ronaldo was simply bluffing.