On Friday, July 17, on the sidelines of Al-Nassr’s friendly encounter against Farense, Ronaldo denied reports that he had contacted his 28-year-old compatriot Otavio to attempt to encourage him to join him in Al-Nassr.
Ronaldo told reporters, “Many players are spoken about, I do not speak because I am not an agent,” as reported by Goal.com. Otavio is mentioned, along with the other ten to fifteen people who have already mentioned him, but nothing has happened. There will be new additions to the squad, of course, but no one has been named just yet. Ronaldo remarked, “Totally a lie” when asked whether his team had signed Otavio. They [the media] report it, but nothing is set in stone. There is little doubt that we will be bolstering our defenses, but no firm plans have been made as of yet.
After falling short of the Saudi Pro League championship in Ronaldo’s debut season, Al-Nassr is eager to improve. This summer has seen the arrival of many notable European players to Saudi teams, notably Ruben Neves, a fellow Portuguese international.
Otavio, a Brazilian native, has spent the last nine years at Porto and has another two years left on his current deal. Al-Nassr must fulfill Ronaldo’s release clause of 31 million British pounds if he is to join the club of his Portugal teammate.
