Ronaldo has a brand new club
Cristiano Ronaldo is getting closer to arriving at a new club, according to Spanish outlet Marca. The Portugal international is currently in Dubai and is “ready to fly” to Saudi Arabia and sign for Al-Nasr. The Middle Eastern club have tabled an offer worth a whopping €200m per season in terms of wages and advertising for a two-and-a-half-year contract. Marca believe the deal will be confirmed before the end of 2022 as the Saudi side are just waiting for Ronaldo to sign the contracts. Al-Nasr hope convincing the five-time Ballon d’Or winner to join will help put Saudi Arabia on the football map ahead of their ambitious bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
Transfers
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Paper Round view: It looks like the Ronaldo transfer saga will finally end soon. His huge wage demands mean that it was always unlikely that a club in Europe would swoop for him. A return home with Sporting Lisbon would be nice, but there is no way they can compete financially with Al-Nasser. Top clubs probably had no interest in approaching him after his scathing Manchester United interview with Piers Morgan. Ronaldo could just retire, but it’s hard to turn down such a huge final salary. It will be interesting to see how it does in Saudi Arabia and how much it will increase the demand to watch the Saudi Pro League worldwide.
Martinelli is set for a huge contract extension
Arsenal and Gabriel Martinelli are edging closer to agreeing a contract extension for the Brazilian striker. The Mail reveal that the 21-year-old is set to become one of Arsenal’s top earners with a new contract worth a whopping £200,000-a-week. Talks are said to be at an “advanced stage” and the Gunners are optimistic that confirmation will come soon. Martinelli is “very happy” to extend his stay in north London and his new deal will be seen as rejecting outside interest from rival European giants.
Paper Round view: It is vital that Arsenal start to tie down their promising youngsters. Martinelli is just the first in the queue – ahead of Bukayo Saka and William Saliba – with whom the Gunners have to agree a contract extension. Obviously, the big talking point is the fact that the Brazil international will earn an impressive £200,000 a week. That’s a huge amount of money and will likely affect future contract negotiations with the rest of the team. However, Arsenal will have taken these thoughts into account before making the bid for Martinelli. The youngster has been consistently classy for over a year now, so why not do everything you can to hook him up?
Premier League battle for Brazil’s latest wonderkid
Chelsea are leading the race to sign Brazilian child prodigy Andrej Santos from Vasco da Gama, according to the Times. The 18-year-old midfielder broke into the senior team this year and has already attracted the attention of a number of Premier League clubs, including Manchester City, Liverpool and Newcastle United, as well as Paris Saint-Germain. However, Chelsea are looking to continue their transfer policy under owner Todd Boilley to sign promising youngsters and Santos could be the next wonderkid to move to west London.
Paper Round view: Chelsea have begun to commit to a bit of a rebuild and have added some talented youngsters to their squad in the summer. The Blues have signed Gabriel Slonina, Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Cassaday – all teenagers – while Mark Cukurella and Wesley Fofana have been added to inject new energy into their aging defence. It’s an interesting plan. Chelsea have always attracted young, exciting talent, but we haven’t really seen many of those stars break through to the senior team under Roman Abramovich’s ownership. Hopefully things will change with Graham Potter as manager – as he has a history of doing this in the Premier League at Brighton.
Wolves are ‘confident’ of signing a new striker
Wolves are optimistic they can complete the signing of Mateusz Cunha from Atletico Madrid in the winter transfer window. The Mail reports that the two clubs are engaged in talks for Cunha to join the Premier League club on an initial loan, with a clause worth £40m to buy in the summer. The 23-year-old has struggled for consistent minutes since moving to the Spanish capital in 2021 and believes a loan move to Wolves will help him rediscover his previous form.
Paper Round view: Wolves are in desperate need of a striker and have been for some time. They are currently bottom of the Premier League table and have scored just eight goals in their first 15 games. Julen Lopetegui has officially taken over and will be hoping to hit the ground running after the World Cup. Kunja could be the answer to his problems if he helps Wolves find the net more regularly than just once every other game. The Brazilian could be a very shrewd signing if he turns their season around.
Transfers
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Transfers
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