Cristiano Ronaldo left out of Al-Nassr squad: What is going on with the Portugal captain in Saudi Arabia?

Al-Nassr is among Saudi Arabia’s ‘big four’, which also includes Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad, all of which have made major investments since PIF’s takeover in 2023.

Saudi clubs spent around £700 million in the summer of 2023; Neymar joined Al-Hilal for £77.6 million.

Al-Hilal also added Aleksandar Mitrovic and Neves from Fulham and Wolves to its squad, while Al-Nassr added Alex Telles from Manchester United, Aymeric Laporte from Manchester City, Sadio Mane from Bayern Munich and Marcelo Brozovic from Inter Milan.

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

According to Saudi sources, Al Hilal is increasingly confident of transferring Karim Benzema.

The former France striker and Ronaldo’s Real teammate has been training alone after falling out with the bosses of Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad over a possible contract extension.

However, while Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal went on to win major silver medals, Al-Nassr failed to do so.

While there has been a general decline in Saudi Arabia’s spending recently, Al-Nassr has been behind the newly introduced Neom SC and Al-Qadsiah in spending since last summer.

Al-Qadsiah signed Mateo Retegui from Atlanta and 20-year-old Ghanaian winger Christopher Bonsu Baah from Genk, and only Al-Hilal has spent more than them since last summer.

Al-Nassr signed Joao Felix from Chelsea and Kingsley Coman from Bayern Munich for £43.7m in the summer but remained quiet throughout January despite being in a three-way title fight with Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli.

Championship rivals Al-Hilal have signed former Arsenal defender Pablo Mari and Rennes’ highly-rated French striker Mohamed Kader Meite (18) in this window.