Following recent reports, Al Nassr are facing a financial crisis and, in my opinion, it can be explained from several different angles, although they all lead back to the same point: the PIF, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The PIF is responsible for distributing money among the country’s four main clubs. The bulk of the investment goes to Al Hilal, Al Nassr, Al Ittihad and Al Ahli. Out of those four, there is one clear favourite, the face of Saudi football investment as a whole, and that is Al Hilal. It is as simple as that. Although Cristiano Ronaldo has become the public face of the project, the pioneer who first brought global attention to the league, the club that receives the most investment is Al Hilal, and they also attract significant funding from other sources.
That said, we cannot blame everything on the unequal distribution of money because Al Nassr are also responsible for their own situation. The club invested heavily to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, which was obviously expensive but also necessary. Since then, with a smaller budget than some of their rivals, they have still needed to sign players such as Coman, João Félix, Mané and Ângelo to remain competitive, and that has only increased their financial burden.
You can clearly see the difference between Al Hilal’s investment and Al Nassr’s. Al Hilal strengthen their squad every year with high-profile signings, while Al Nassr constantly swing between extremes. There are transfer windows where they sign nobody of the highest level, followed by others where they spend €50 million on two players, as they did with João Félix and Coman. There is no real progression. Too often, it feels poorly planned, even amateurish.
So how do you solve it? The ideal scenario would be for Cristiano Ronaldo to reduce his salary. He earns the highest wage in world football, and lowering it would create room for the club to make further signings. As for selling players, I do not think that is the answer because you would have to sacrifice important foreign players, and there are already very few of them. That would only make the team less competitive.
Another issue is the overall wage bill, but those salaries are exactly what attract world-class players to Saudi Arabia in the first place, so cutting them significantly is not really an option. The main focus would have to be Cristiano’s contract, but realistically, that is not going to happen.
Another solution is simply to win trophies and go deep in every competition. Since Cristiano Ronaldo arrived, Al Nassr have won only two trophies, one of which was unofficial, and that is not enough if you want to be the leading club of the project. That status belongs to Al Hilal, who seem to win almost everything. Even when they do not play particularly well, they still find a way to win. They qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup, eliminated Man City, and continue to dominate. Al Nassr simply have to start winning.
Conclusion
It is a difficult situation, but ultimately it comes down to poor management within a system where you are not the priority when it comes to investment.