Cristiano Ronaldo was left out of the Al Nassr squad for the match on Monday in the Saudi Pro League, and multiple outlets are saying that the 40-year-old footballer has grown dissatisfied with the club and how it is being run by the Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The news was first broken by Portuguese outlet A Bola, and other outlets like BBC and Sky Sports also explain that the player feels that Al Nassr receives less investment than the other three clubs owned by the PIF: Al Hilal, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad.
Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund owns those four football clubs (and also funds other clubs like Newcastle United). This week, Ronaldo's former Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema joined Al Hilal after his contract Al-Ittihad ended.
Ronaldo sees that other clubs receive more investment and reinforcements than Al-Hilal, and despite both being owned by the country, Al Hilal and Al Nassr are the main rivals in the Saudi Pro League, currently topping the table.
According to a source to BBC, Cristiano Ronaldo "is just competitive and doesn't like other clubs getting stronger". Since Ronaldo joined Al Nassr in 2022, he has only won a smaller trophy, the Arab Club Champions Cup.
Ronaldo recently signed a new contract with Al Nassr until 2027, making him the best paid footballer in the world, but sources say he is unhappy, and is making a sort of "strike" to force Al Nassr and the PIF to greatly invest in the team so that he can finally win the Saudi league...