Will Cristiano Ronaldo play for Newcastle United in case they qualify for UEFA Champions League? Here is the truth…

Image Courtesy: Newcastle United Times group, Facebook

The charismatic Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is often regarded as one of the GOATs of the game of Football. He has earned huge popularity across the world due to his impeccable and elegant soccer skills. The 37 year old shocked the world in an interview with Piers Morgan, where he alleged that he was not being treated well in Manchester United.

This led to his dismissal from United and after a disappointing World Cup campaign; Ronaldo signed a contract with Saudi Football club Al-Nassr that will pay him a whopping 75 Million US Dollars annually. 

The Al-Nassr club is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which also owns the Premier League club, Newcastle United. In this context, news reports claiming that Ronaldo might still be able to play in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) tournament if Newcastle qualifies for the tournament. Cristiano Ronaldo has had an impressive record in UCL, winning the trophy 5 times with Real Madrid (4) and Manchester United (1). Ronaldo has also the highest goals by any individual in UCL history. Thus, the possibility of Ronaldo being able to display his magic once again in Europe made many of his fans excited. 

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In the above post, the news has been attributed to Spanish media organization, Marca, The news says: “There is a clause in Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract at Al-Nassr that means if Newcastle qualify for the Champions League, he can go on loan there as they are owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.”

However, when we investigated this news, we found that this interesting possibility may not be true. Here is what we found.

Fact Check

The Facebook post has attributed this report to Marca. Hence, we searched for news reports on the website. We found a news reports that cite some other news reports claiming a clause in Ronaldo’s contract that allows him to play for Newcastle United in UCL. Thus, the source of this information is unclear.

In the same article, Marca quotes Newcastle United’s Manager Eddie Howe from his interview with Sky Sports saying: “We wish Cristiano all the best in his adventure, but from our point of view there is no truth in that.”

We also found a statement on these rumors from Howe while addressing the media. He dismissed the rumors by saying that “there is no truth in it.”

Thus, it seems unlikely that Ronaldo will play for Newcastle United given the denial from Howe and the credibility of the reports making the claim. In addition, during his first press conference for Al-Nassr, Ronaldo said, “In Europe, my work is done.” 

Conclusion

Though there were reports initially that a clause in Ronaldo’s contract will allow him to play for Premier League club Newcastle United in the event of the club qualifying for UCL. However, the source of the information is unclear and thus it raises questions on its credibility. On the other hand, Newcastle United’s manager Eddie Howe has dismissed these rumors and said there is no truth in it.