In the early hours of December 31, Saudi club Al-Nassr announced the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo on a free-transfer.

Ronaldo is set to earn the highest ever salary for a professional footballer, with his two-and-a-half -year-long contractworth around £177m a year Approx. £ 3.4 million per week) after signing all commercial agreements, reported the Guardian.

In November, a bombshell Ronaldo interview with Piers Morgan was released.

In it, he criticized his then club, Manchester United, and its manager, Erik ten Hag.  Soon after the interview, Ronaldo was released by United, making him a free agent.

Ten Hag is a “project manager” – he was brought in to execute a long term plan to take Manchester United back to the top of English football. Unfortunately for Ronaldo, his stature itself was not enough for ten Hag to include him in his plans. He was unceremoniously benched for multiple games.

What followed was a cold war between player and coach, with Ronaldo misbehaving many times over the season.