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Five clubs that could help Cristiano Ronaldo reach 1,000 career goals
Analysis
Cristiano Ronaldo is desperate to score 1,000 career goals.
When the striker bagged Portugal's gamewinner in the Nations League semi-final against Germany this week, it took his career total up to 937 goals.
He is just 63 goals short of his target!
The bad news? His contract with Al-Nassr expires in a month, and all signs point to the end of his relationship with the Saudi club.
The other bad news? Cristiano Ronaldo is 40 years-old! He needs to score and score soon.
Where could he go to do that? FootballTransfers has had a look and come up with five possible transfer destinations for the greatest goalscorer of all-time:
Man Utd
Sure, it didn't work the second time, but have you ever heard of third time lucky??
The reason Ronaldo's 2021 return to Man Utd went so poorly was because that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer-managed side was built around pace, transition and vertical tempo.
Ronaldo simply did not have the legs to play the way Solskjaer and the rest of the United team needed him to, and so the move was a disaster.
But under Ruben Amorim?
What Man Utd need more than anything is someone to win physical duels (he can do that) and score goals (hello! 937!) in the box.
With Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo around to do the running and dribbling, Ronaldo could focus on being a spectacular box poacher.
Moreover, with United playing just once a week, the 40 year-old legend would be afforded plenty of rest and, of course, would be conferred all the benefits of Premier League PR.
Al-Hilal
If not Al-Nassr, maybe Al-Hilal would be a viable option for Ronaldo to continue his Saudi Pro League adventures?
Al-Hilal are a much better team than Al-Nassr, and they have Ronaldo's compatriot Ruben Neves running the midfield for them.
With a prolific forward like Ronaldo at the head of the team, Al-Hilal would have the firepower to wrestle back the title they just surrendered to Al-Ittihad.
Sporting CP
With all due respect to Man Utd, Cristiano Ronaldo heading home would actually entail him going back to Lisbon to play for Sporting Portugal.
Cristiano leaving an 18 year-old boy full of promise and potential then returning a 40 year-old man and the greatest goalscorer of all-time is the kid of thing they used to write epic poems and novels about.
He'd walk right into the side, too, as they are sure to lose Viktor Gyokeres in the summer. Ronaldo comfortably becomes the teams striker and should settle in superbly.
Moreover with Sporting, Ronaldo would still have the chance to add to his daunting total of Champions League goals, extending his lead as that competitions all-time leading scorer.
Chelsea
Chelsea just signed Liam Delap to play up-front. This season he scored 12 league goals.
That's not enough for Chelsea so the Blues are now looking at signing Hugo Ekitike for €100m. And that makes sense because the Frenchman has... 15 league goals.
Why don't Chelsea get real and sign the guy who has 937 career goals? Cristiano Ronaldo would be a deadly veteran mentoring the big burly Delap in the ways of the poacher.
Current ETV
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
ETV Range
€6.5M - €8.9M
Moreover, Cole Palmer has over 200 shot creating actions in the Premier League this season. Pair him with an elite goalscorer like Ronaldo and someone may finally break Thierry Henry’s assist record!
Plus just imagined the manic warblings of United fans if Chelsea pull this off, or the hysterical denial from Arsenal fans bleating about how Lewis-Skelly will “pocket” him only for them to be secretly terrified that one of their great tormentors has returned.
It’d be tremendous!
Real Madrid
Alright so his return to Man Utd didn’t work, but what about a return to Real Madrid? The club's fans have certainly made their voices clear.
This ticks almost all the boxes.
Does the team need a striker? Yes.
Does the team need a veteran leader? Yes.
Does the team give Ronaldo chances to score goals, especially Champions League goals? Yes.
Madrid are looking to sign Ante Budimir, which is very smart, but instead of being smart what if Madrid decided to be AWESOME?
Imagine the clash of personalities as Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Vini Jr find their respective brands of arrogance dwarfed by the VY Canis Majorus of egos?
The major stumbling block here is that, playing a team-first role with limited minutes, Ronaldo would almost certainly not score a large enough amount of goals to touch 1,000 career.
He’d win lots of trophies, but would he value that over his 1,000 goal prize?
Other Club World Cup teams:
While Real Madrid, Chelsea and Al-Hilal would all offer Ronaldo the chance to play in the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup, they aren’t Ronaldo’s only options to do so.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino even said to CR7 superfan, noted streamer and pro-Palestine entertainment icon IShowSpeed that: “Cristiano Ronaldo might play for one of the teams as well. There are discussions with some clubs.”
But what clubs? Beyond the above three, here are some more clubs that Ronaldo could play for in order to take the stage at the inaugural Club World Cup:
•Botafogo
•Flamengo
•Fluminense
•Palmeiras
•Pachuca
•Wydad Casablanca
•Esperance de Tunis
•Ah Ahly
While most probably wouldn’t interest Ronaldo for anything more than a short-term stay to play in the tournament, it should be noted that the Portuguese striker is immensely popular in North Africa, and so a move to any of those clubs, but in particular the legendary Al Ahly in Egypt, could provide Ronaldo both the media profile and footballing platform to reach his astonishing target of 1,000 career goals.
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