Cristiano Ronaldo rules out Al-Nassr exit amid recent speculation

Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that he will be staying with Al-Nassr next season despite the recent speculation surrounding his future.

The 38-year-old made the move to Saudi Arabia in January following his release from Manchester United, penning a contract with the Riyadh-based outfit until June 2025.

There have recently been rumours surrounding Ronaldo's future, with the Portugal international allegedly looking to return to European football this summer.

However, the experienced forward has confirmed that he will be staying with Al-Nassr, as he opened up on his early experiences with the Saudi Arabian outfit.

"The league is very good," Ronaldo told SPL. "But I think we have many, many opportunities to still grow. The league is competitive. We have very good teams, very good Arab players, but they need to improve a little bit more the infrastructure.

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"Even the referees, the VAR system, should be a little quicker. I think other small things they need to improve.

"But I am happy here, I want to continue here, I will continue here. And in my opinion if they continue to do the work that they want to do here, for the next five years, I think the Saudi league can be a top five league in the world."

Ronaldo, though, admitted that he had expected to win silverware this season, with Al-Nassr finishing second in Saudi's top division, five points behind champions Al Ittihad, while Al Hilal won the King's Cup.

"Well, my expectation was a little bit different," Ronaldo added. "To be honest I expected to win something this year, but it is not always the way we think or the way we want, sometimes we need passion, consistency, and persistence to achieve the best things.

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"So, I still believe that next year we will improve a lot, let us say in the last five or six months, the team has improved a lot, even the league, all the teams improved.

"It takes time sometimes, but if you believe and you think it is your goal, I think everything is possible. I expected to win something this year, but we didn't, but next year I am really positive and confident that things will change, and we go in a better way. So, let us believe that and work on that."

Ronaldo has found the back of the net on 14 occasions in 19 appearances for Al-Nassr since making the move to the Saudi Arabian outfit.

The forward had initially been expected to finish the 2022-23 campaign at Man United, but he was released by the club following his explosive interview with Piers Morgan towards the end of last year.

Ronaldo could soon be joined in the Saudi league by Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema, who are out of contract at Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid respectively later this month.