Guardiola's agent admits Al Nassr talks to manage Ronaldo | OneFootball

The glorious Pep Guardiola era at Manchester City has come to an end, a spell in which he won ten titles (including the long-awaited Champions League) over a decade. The Spanish manager will remain linked to the club as Global Ambassador for the City Football Group, but there are already some suitors who want him in their dugout next season. The one that has made the most progress is Al Nassr, dreaming of having him coach Cristiano Ronaldo.

His agent, Josep Maria Orobitg, confirmed that he received a call from Saudi Arabia when the Spanish coach’s farewell in England already seemed imminent. “There was contact a month and a half ago, only contact, with no commitment or written offer,” he told Okaz.

At the same time, he denied reports claiming that the newly crowned Saudi champion had offered him around 130 million euros per season, a figure that would make him, by a wide margin, the highest-paid coach in history. “It’s not that much money...,” the agent said.

Of course, it would not be a problem for Al Nassr to put an even bigger offer on the table if it means pairing him with the ageless Portuguese goal scorer, whom Pep faced in the Clásicos between Barcelona and Real Madrid more than a decade ago and suffered against on several Champions League nights. In 16 meetings, he scored eight goals against him.

“Cristiano is a monster...,” the former Barça coach once said in praise of him. Though he immediately added a clarification: “And Messi was the father of that monster. And both have done something incredible over the last 15 or 20 years.”

After being crowned Saudi Pro League champion in 2025-26, coach Jorge Jesus was asked whether he was proud that Guardiola might replace him next season, and he was blunt: “No. He is the one who should be proud to replace me, not the other way around.”

In any case, as of today, nothing is clear regarding the Catalan’s future. He will take his time to analyze offers, not only from a financial standpoint, but also from a sporting one. “At this moment, none of them has much chance of signing Guardiola,” Orobitg said bluntly.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.