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Most recently, Cristiano Ronaldo organized a high profile protest at Al Nassr, refusing to play a Saudi Pro League game on 2nd February amidst tremendous anger over the club transfer policy, and the overall direction of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) which owns several clubs topping the league.
According to media sources, Ronaldo was not satisfied with what he felt were not equal investments and support in comparison to other competing clubs like Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad. As the ProFootballNetwork confirms, Ronaldo was so displeased that he started meddling in the major transfers such as the high profile acquisition of former Real Madrid colleague Karim Benzema by Al-Hilal by claiming that such transactions would spoil the healthy competition level in the Saudi Pro League. Despite clubs initially agreeing and filing the paperwork, the objections of Ronaldo were said to be dragging on official approvals on the winter transfer window.
The effect of the protests by Ronaldo has been tremendous, not only did his protest in regard to Benzema affect the proposed transfer of the latter, but also put the transfer of other high profile players like N’Golo Kante and Youssef En-Nesyri to a stall until league approval was given. Al Nassr actually won the match Ronaldo missed, but worsening tensions on the matter of competitive balance and resource allocation in the league were reflected by the fact that there was less transfer activity there than at its competitors. Although Al Hilal later verified that Benzema had been signed, the conflict has highlighted that Ronaldo was not satisfied with the distribution of resources and support among clubs under the PIF brand.
In addition to the direct transfer drama, the situation has wider concerns to the future of Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia. It has been reported that he does not feel satisfied with the decisions made by the current management and this would affect his future commitment to the league. His demonstration, which is, according to some media, literally a strike, is the indication of mounting dissatisfaction with one of the most glamorous football players in the world regarding the fairness and investment issues, not concerning the match play or his own matters.
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