Cristiano Ronaldo’s final chapter has entered another intriguing chapter thanks to the emergence of Ronaldo Junior Al Nassr, the 16-year-old who has impressed on Cristiano Ronaldo’s side for the Saudi club’s youth teams.
Cristiano Junior has regularly featured on videos which have seen him score goals for Al Nassr, and stood out in the last instance when he was playing in the club’s U17 team. His improvement has brought a strange father son moment before Cristiano Ronaldo’s playing days may come to an end.
The 41-year-old Ronaldo recently said the ongoing season may be his last. After joining Al Nassr as a free agent in December 2022, the Portugal captain will be out of contract next summer. If he does retire at the end of the season then Ronaldo will have two big ambitions left to achieve personally. One is his goal of hitting 1,000 career goals and the other one is following his dream of playing with his eldest son.
Ronaldo is now 979 goals up after his three-goal seven matches this season. He is also Portugal’s record international scorer, with 146 goals. The striker will have more chances at gaining his international tally with Portugal against Norway, Wales and Denmark under new head coach Jorge Jesus.
Junior is also creating his own global record. Haven’t played for Portugal at higher age groups, but is a 2015 U16 international who has made nine appearances and has scored three goals as a teenager. He will be expected to step up to the U17 bandwagon in November.
His time with Al Nassr has inevitably led to rumours of a move to the starting lineup. While there is no guarantee that he will make his senior debut this season, continued performances at youth level could put him closer to that possibility.
