Cristiano Ronaldo still Al Nassr's main man but can Kingsley Coman and Joao Felix thrive in his shadow?

Portugal star has chance to win first silverware at club as Saudi Super Cup heads to Hong Kong after team was rebuilt to serve his needs

Cristiano Ronaldo, centre, signed a bumper new contract at Al Nassr in the summer. Getty Images

As always with Cristiano Ronaldo, it is all about the numbers.

The headline one, of course, is 200 million: his eye-watering annual wage in euros, which makes all other salaries in football look like chump change.

There is 1,000. That is the milestone career goal target that is looming tantalisingly close.

Forty-one. The age he will turn midway through the season, which his Al Nassr side will start on Tuesday with a Saudi Super League semi-final against Al Ittihad in Hong Kong.

There is 15, which is the age of Cristiano Jr, his son, who is part of the academy ranks at Al Nassr. If the 1,000 goals target is not motivating Ronaldo’s longevity, then maybe it is the idea of one day playing in the same starting XI as his son.

Then there is zero, which is the number of significant trophies his team have won since his headline-grabbing move to Riyadh in 2023.

It goes without saying, Ronaldo’s influence on football in the Kingdom has been transformative. The Saudi Pro League (SPL) would hold nothing like the intrigue it now does beyond its borders if it wasn’t for him.

The cash on offer to play at the big clubs would always have brought a certain strata of players to the league. But Ronaldo’s switch there from the Premier League and Manchester United gave it the credibility the Saudi Arabian football project required.

Cristiano Ronaldo signs new contract with Saudi Pro League's Al Nassr

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It is because of him that it is not altogether a shock that the leading goal scorer in Italy’s Serie A, Mateo Retegui, opted to join the SPL’s fourth-best team from last season.

At the peak of his powers, the 26-year-old striker has swapped Atalanta for Al Qadsiah, a club of minimal international renown, but vaulting ambitions.

And yet for all the residual effects of his presence in the Kingdom, Ronaldo’s own club have had a frustrating time while he has been in their ranks.

In each of his two complete seasons, he has been the SPL’s top goal scorer. In the first of those, Nassr finished second, while last term they dropped a place.

It means they will not even be playing AFC Champions League Elite football in the coming campaign. That was a competition they departed last term after a sorry semi-final display against Kawasaki Frontale, with Ronaldo himself largely culpable, because of a hat-trick of misses late on.

To try to remedy the situation, Nassr have gone large. Stefano Pioli was cut loose as manager after that dismal end in the Champions League in Jeddah.

Jorge Jesus was the extraordinary choice as his replacement, which was startling chiefly because he had been at bitter local rivals Al Hilal for the previous two seasons.

Jesus’ arrival was given Ronaldo’s seal of approval, but quite how the marriage of two stratospheric egos works will be intriguing to see.

Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a two-year contract extension with Al Nassr. Photo: Al Nassr FC

As Portuguese compatriots, they speak the same language. Clearly, they both have reams of experience of great successes to call on, and understand the league now, too.

But each experienced dysfunction and frustration last season. Jesus’s time at Hilal was also ended by a shambolic showing in the last four of the Champions League. In his case, his side lost their discipline while being soundly beaten by Al Ahli Saudi, the eventual champions.

On the field, too, concessions have been made to Ronaldo. Jhon Duran has been sent out on loan. The young Colombian arrived amid much fanfare direct from the Premier League in January, and scored goals.

Too often, though, he found himself taking up similar positions to Ronaldo. That being the case, there was only going to be room for one of them, so he has been farmed out to Fenerbahce instead.

The attack is being reshaped to suit its most famous player. Joao Felix, the young Portuguese forward who idolises Ronaldo, has arrived from Chelsea.

Bayern Munich's Kingsley Coman has now also arrived at Nassr, another creative player brought in straight from one of Europe’s top leagues, with the capabilities to provide ammunition for Ronaldo.

Coman’s high salary has been lingering over Bayern from the excesses of the previous administration. They have wanted him off the wage bill for some time, and Coman has been linked to Riyadh clubs for the past two summers. Last year it was Hilal. This time it has been their neighbours.

The careers of Coman and Felix both need a reboot. Now, though, they have joined a side organised around someone else. The league might bask in Ronaldo’s reflected glow, but will they be able to shine in his shadow?

Nassr’s opposition in the Super Cup, Al Ittihad, were deserving league champions last season. Yet they have been conspicuous by their lack of transfer business this summer.

That is almost unique in a league which continues its voracious appetite for spending.

The traditional powers have strengthened. Theo Hernandez and Darwin Nunez have joined Hilal from AC Milan and Liverpool respectively. Enzo Millot, a highly rated No 10 from France, has gone to Ahli from Stuttgart.

It is a sign of the growing strength of the league that sides beyond the core powers are making a push, too.

The investment made in sides like Qadsiah and Neom, for example, means it isn’t just the Jeddah and Riyadh clubs who can win on any given week.

Neom are the promoted side from the Tabuk region in the far north-west of the country. Taking on the name of the planned city which is under construction, they are trying to build a football team of similar ambition.

They have raided France’s Ligue 1 for five players, including Said Benrahma from Lyon, and have spent in the region of $100m doing so.

They also got close to signing Granit Xhaka from Leverkusen, only for him to end up returning to the Premier League with Sunderland.

Qadsiah, from Khobar in the east of the country, have spent even more, with the €65m outlay on Retegui being the standout move of the transfer window so far.