Al Nassr
Ronaldo shrugs off Ten Hag’s fresh remarks as feud carries on
Ronaldo has brushed off Ten Hag’s latest criticism, with the feud between the pair still unresolved.
Cristiano Ronaldo has made it clear he has little interest in re-opening his dispute with Erik ten Hag. According to Morgan, the forward’s view is simple: the former Manchester United manager is not “worth talking about”.
Ten Hag’s latest comments arrived in a two-part interview with The Athletic last month, when he claimed Ronaldo “let the team down.” He later went further on Dutch television, appearing on Goedemorgen Eredivisie and saying the forward was finished by the time he left Juventus in 2021, aged 36. “For the last seven or eight years, he just hasn’t been able to deliver,” Ten Hag said, adding that it was Real Madrid’s “great gift” to allow a player to depart before the decline set in.
Ronaldo has not publicly answered those remarks, but Morgan said he asked the player directly. Speaking on his Football Uncensored YouTube channel, he said: “I did ask Cristiano about it and he said he didn’t think that Ten Hag was worth talking about.”
Morgan then offered his own opinion on the situation, arguing that Ronaldo could still have contributed plenty more at Manchester United. “I think Ronaldo could have given United another two, three years and scored a lot of goals for them,” he said. “It would have been an excellent, excellent comeback if he’d had the right manager with him. But he didn’t. He had a guy that disrespected him, treated him like s—, a bit like the Portuguese manager is trying to do now.
“These guys like to make a name for themselves out of Ronaldo.”
At 2026 stage of his career, Ronaldo is approaching the end of the road. He has already admitted that this is likely to be his final season in professional soccer, with his Al Nassr contract set to expire next summer.
He opted to continue with Portugal after the 2026 World Cup, when Lionel Messi chose to step away from Argentina for good, but matters have since unravelled again. Last month, a falling out with Jorge Jesus over what Ronaldo viewed as disrespect sparked the latest tension.
Ronaldo is now serving a one-month suspension from the national team, during a period with no international fixtures. He has also been fined a nominal amount, though there is an expectation that he will be recalled this month.
Al Nassr
Joao Felix’s Europe return could be nearing: five possible landing spots
Joao Felix is eyeing a Europe return, and Bayern Munich may be the most realistic of the clubs linked.
Joao Felix’s move to Saudi Arabia was widely read as a step away from the top European stage, but his spell with Al Nassr has changed the conversation. After a run of loans through Catalonia, west London and Milan, the 26-year-old completed a $57.8 million switch in 2025 and has since looked far more settled in the Gulf.
Last season, Felix was named the Saudi Pro League’s star player as Al Nassr won the title, with the arrival of Jorge Jesus helping to unlock his best form. That resurgence has also revived interest in his future, especially after he told AS this week that he would like to return to Europe soon, possibly as early as next summer when his contract expires.
“I’m very happy in Saudi Arabia, enjoying my football,” he said. “But it’s true that I’m also thinking about returning [to Europe]. I don’t know if it will be next year, in two, three, or four, but I’d like to return to European competitions.”
Even so, a strong season in Saudi Arabia does not erase the uncertainty that has followed his career. The standard is not the same as Europe’s top leagues or the Champions League, and there is no guarantee that this version of Felix will look the same back on the continent. Still, the idea of a return remains tempting.
Paris Saint-Germain appear an unlikely option despite their Portuguese-leaning squad. Luis Enrique’s side have just claimed back-to-back Champions Leagues, but their summer attacking reshuffle and preference for a rigid 4-3-3 leave little room for a player of Felix’s profile.
Chelsea, despite his past there, also look improbable. His 40 games for the club brought 11 goals and two assists, and while the move to Al Nassr was good business, a third spell in west London does not seem realistic. The club have already added Morgan Rogers in the summer, while Xabi Alonso cannot always find space for Estêvão in a crowded attack.
Bayern Munich may be the most plausible of the clubs mentioned. Jamal Musiala’s strong start, Lennart Karl’s emergence, Serge Gnabry’s move into a No. 10 role and Ismael Saibari’s versatility all complicate the picture, but the German club remain in the market and have historical interest in Felix. If Barcelona do not move for Dani Olmo, Bayern could easily re-enter the discussion.
Al Hilal
The costliest transfer windows in football history: a club-by-club rundown
Chelsea, Liverpool and others headline football’s most expensive transfer windows ever.
Transfer spending has swollen to extraordinary levels, with clubs in England leading much of the charge. Even with rules designed to slow the pace, loopholes and deep pockets have kept the market moving at a scale that now regularly rewrites the record books. Once, the biggest windows belonged mostly to Europe’s traditional heavyweights. That is no longer the case.
Chelsea feature repeatedly in the discussion. Todd Boehly’s first window delivered a £254 million outlay, built around Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana, Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly, plus smaller fees for Carney Chukwuemeka, Cesare Casadei and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The club then spent £278 million a few months later, led by Enzo Fernández’s then-British record £106.8 million move and the costly arrival of Mykhailo Mudryk. Another summer in 2025 pushed the total to £282 million, while a later window in 2026 saw Morgan Rogers become the most expensive English player in history at £117 million.
Arsenal’s busy summer of 2025 was shaped by Andrea Berta, who helped drive an unprecedented spending burst. Viktor Gyökeres and Eberechi Eze were the two most expensive signings, with Martín Zubimendi and Noni Madueke also arriving for hefty fees. Arsenal went on to win the Premier League title, though only Zubimendi became an undisputed starter.
Liverpool made history in 2025 by becoming the first club to spend more than £400 million in one window. Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak both arrived in British record deals, while Hugo Ekitiké came in for £69 million before add-ons. The club’s heavy spending sat against a backdrop of saving in previous years, record revenues and strong sales.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid’s 2009 window brought Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo for £233 million, while the 2019 attempt to repeat that scale brought disappointment through Eden Hazard and Luka Jović. Paris Saint-Germain’s 2023 spending helped fuel later Champions League success, Al Hilal’s 2023 splurge centred on Malcom and Neymar, and Tottenham’s 2026 window was driven by the need to avoid another bottom-three finish.
Al Nassr
Ronaldo at 100 SPL Games: How the First 100 in Saudi Stack Up Against Europe
Ronaldo reached 100 SPL appearances, scored twice in his centenary and early league numbers compared.
Cristiano Ronaldo reached 100 Saudi Pro League appearances in Friday’s match against Al-Najma. He scored twice in that 100th game as Al-Nassr won 5–2. Ronaldo joined the SPL in early 2023 and the centenary milestone invites a straightforward comparison with his first 100 matches in Europe’s top leagues.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner began his rise as a teenager in the Premier League with Manchester United. Across his first spell at the club (2003–09), and a brief return (2021–23), he totalled 236 Premier League appearances, 103 goals and 47 assists. In his first 100 Premier League matches he recorded 19 goals and 14 assists, according to StatMuse.
Ronaldo’s most prolific period arrived at Real Madrid over nine seasons (2009–18). In La Liga he made 292 appearances, scoring 311 goals and providing 95 assists. In his first 100 La Liga matches he scored 111 goals, including 14 hat tricks, according to StatMuse. That 111-goal start in Spain is 14 more goals than his output in the SPL, a gap that highlights how his scoring rates have varied across stages of his career.
After La Liga, Ronaldo moved to Serie A with Juventus (2018–22). He made 98 league appearances there, scoring 81 goals and adding 21 assists. Individual honours followed, including Serie A MVP for 2018–19 and Serie A Best Striker in 2020–21.
Beyond domestic leagues, Ronaldo has been prolific in European competition. In the UEFA Champions League he has 140 goals and 50 assists in 183 appearances.
The simple arithmetic of first-100 appearances underlines a career of evolving output. Age and the comparative level of the Saudi Pro League are referenced frequently when measuring his current returns against the double-digit scoring feats he produced earlier in La Liga and other top flights.
