Record-breaking salary: Cristiano Ronaldo to earn $426 a minute at Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr

Dubai: Cristiano Ronaldo will be unveiled as an Al Nassr player tonight at the club’s Mrsool Park stadium, in Riyadh.

The Portugal captain agreed to join the Saudi Pro League club after becoming a free agent when his previous club Manchester United cancelled his contract following his explosive TV interview that resulted in a dramatic fallout with some of its management.

Al Nassr wasted no time in acquiring the 37-year-old former Real Madrid and Juventus attacker and have made him the highest-paid footballer in history.

Ronaldo will earn $207 million (£173 million) a year, the largest-ever in the history of football, of which $74 million (£62 million) will be for playing football and the rest for image rights, commercial deals, and becoming an ambassador for the country’s 2030 World Cup bid.

Eye-watering deal

It is an eye-watering deal that the club have described as “more than history in the making.”

Ronaldo could have joined any number of clubs around the world but had expressed a desire to experience a new football league in a different country.

“The vision with which Al Nassr operates is very inspiring and I am excited to join my team-mates. Let’s help the team together to achieve more successes,” said Ronaldo.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Al Nassr which will take him to the summer of 2025 and beyond his 40th birthday.

Al Nassr, founded in Riyadh in 1955, is one Saudi Arabia’s oldest football clubs and has won nine Saudi Premier League titles. The team’s current manager is French national Rudi Garcia, whose resume includes managing top-tier European clubs like Roma, Olympique de Marseille and Lille.