Gerry Cardinale Considers Al-Nassr as Ronaldo Approaches 1,000 Goals

The future of Al-Nassr could soon be shaped as much in New York and Milan boardrooms as under the Riyadh floodlights.

RedBird Capital Partners, the American investment firm led by Gerry Cardinale, is exploring a move to buy the Saudi Pro League club from the Public Investment Fund – a deal that could, remarkably, turn Cristiano Ronaldo into a part-owner of the team he currently captains.

For a player who has spent two decades redefining what a forward can be, the next evolution might come not in the penalty area, but in the boardroom.

RedBird’s next play

RedBird is no passing tourist in football. In 2020, the firm took an 85 per cent majority stake in Toulouse, then doubled down on its strategy by acquiring AC Milan two years later. Those moves signalled a clear intention: build a serious multi-club platform, not a scattered collection of vanity projects.

Al-Nassr is now the latest opportunity on Cardinale’s desk.

“There have been discussions to assess the Al-Nassr opportunity and I was contacted to look into it, but we are at a preliminary stage. I work a lot in the Middle East,” Cardinale told Gazzetta dello Sport, drawing a firm line under any suggestion that a deal is close, while openly acknowledging his interest.

The attraction is obvious. A successful takeover would instantly create one of the most eye-catching networks in the modern game: AC Milan, with Christian Pulisic among its standout names; Toulouse, a proven development hub; and Al-Nassr, home to one of the sport’s most powerful global brands in Ronaldo.

Multi-club ownership is no longer an experiment. It is a race. RedBird, already in the pack, sees Al-Nassr as a potential accelerator.

Cardinale and Ronaldo: a different kind of partnership?

The financial mechanics are one story. The human dynamic is another.

Ronaldo’s contract in Saudi Arabia runs until June 2027. By then he will be 42, perhaps finally ready to step away from the relentless demands of elite football. Cardinale is already thinking about what comes next for the Portuguese icon.

“I’d like to meet Ronaldo because I’m curious to find out what he might want to do when he retires and what his future involvement with the Saudi club might be,” Cardinale said. “I’ll continue to assess the possibilities of managing multiple clubs, although I already have Toulouse and AC Milan.”

The implication is clear: this is not just about acquiring a club; it is about potentially aligning with one of the most influential figures of the modern era and giving him a role in shaping its future.

A part-ownership stake for Ronaldo has been floated in reports around the proposed deal. If that vision becomes reality, it would mark a rare transition – a superstar moving directly from the dressing room into the ownership structure of the club he represents on the pitch.

For Al-Nassr, it would fuse their biggest commercial asset with their long-term strategic identity. For RedBird, it would mean partnering with a global figure whose reach extends far beyond football.

The “alien” still deciding games

While the business world weighs numbers and governance charts, Ronaldo continues to do what he has always done: score.

On Thursday, in a wild 5-3 Saudi Pro League win over Al-Kholood, the 39-year-old struck a hat-trick that dragged him closer to one of the most staggering milestones the sport has ever seen – 1,000 career goals. He now sits just 15 short of that landmark.

The match itself became another chapter in the Ronaldo myth. Eight goals, chaos at both ends, and the veteran forward still dictating the script. Ukrainian boxing star Oleksandr Usyk watched on and summed it up with a single phrase, labelling Ronaldo “an alien”.

The description fits the numbers. At an age when most forwards have long since faded, Ronaldo is not padding his record with cameos. He is still carrying a team, still deciding results, still celebrating hat-tricks.

After the final whistle, he went to social media to mark the occasion in typically direct fashion: “Great win, great team performance. Happy to help with a hat trick!”

The message was simple. The message was familiar. The context, though, feels different. Every goal now is not just about a match or a season, but about a looming, almost unimaginable total.

A club at the crossroads

As Ronaldo closes in on the 1,000-goal mark, Al-Nassr finds itself straddling two timelines.

On one side, the immediate spectacle: a global star lighting up the Saudi Pro League, packing stadiums, pulling in cameras, and dragging his team through high-scoring thrillers. On the other, the long game: RedBird’s preliminary talks, the prospect of a new ownership structure, and the possibility of Ronaldo’s influence stretching from the pitch to the boardroom.

Cardinale has made it clear that discussions remain at an early stage. Nothing is guaranteed. Yet the contours of a bold project are already visible – Milan, Toulouse and Al-Nassr linked under one investment umbrella, with Ronaldo potentially serving as both figurehead and stakeholder in Saudi Arabia.

For now, the story splits in two. In meeting rooms, lawyers and executives test the feasibility of a deal that would reshape Al-Nassr’s future. On the grass, a 39-year-old forward keeps hunting a number that once sounded like fantasy.

If RedBird’s move gathers pace, the real question will not be whether Ronaldo can keep scoring. It will be what happens when, finally, he stops – and whether his next act will be to help run the club where he chased history.