Noureddine Zekri says Al Nassr must sign players who can serve Cristiano Ronaldo

Algeria manager Noureddine Zekri reckons Al Nassr’s decision to not sign players who can complement Cristiano Ronaldo, prevented them from winning titles last season. The Portuguese striker scored 25 goals in 30 appearances in the Saudi Pro League in the previous season and won the top goal-scorer award.

Furthermore, in the 2023-24 season, Ronaldo netted 35 goals to set a new goal-scoring record in the Saudi Pro League, surpassing the previous record of 34 set by Abderrazak Hamdallah in 2019.

Zekri reckons the SPL club doesn’t have the players who can provide support to Ronaldo.

Zekri said On-White podcast, “The Portuguese star is a goalscorer and can finish off all attacks with great ease, despite his advanced age. Ronaldo is no longer 25 years old, so you can’t ask him to perform defensive roles. He needs to build a system around him by having strong wingers and a strong midfield, and leave the task of scoring goals to him.”

“Ronaldo, without the full support of Al-Nassr’s players, managed to win the top scorer award twice in a row, so the club must sign players who can serve him.”

“Al-Nassr could have won titles if they had followed this logic, but they went to sign another striker (Jhon Duran). He is a good player, but he was unable to perform at his best because he was alongside Ronaldo, and thus there was an offensive crisis.”

On the other hand, Zekri believes Al-Nassr’s new head coach Jorge Jesus is incapable of managing the club.

“The fans see him as a great coach, but I challenge him to take over a team like Al-Akhdoud during the same period I was there and continue with them in the Premier League. I took over the team for seven matches and was able to keep it in the Premier League, and Jesus cannot do that in my opinion.”

Al-Nassr will face Toulouse in a friendly match on 30th July.