Cristiano Ronaldo came close to joining an MLS club before his move to Saudi Arabia, with a potential ownership stake discussed as part of the negotiations.

Ronaldo, 39, left European football at the start of 2023, joining Saudi club Al Nassr on a three-year contract after Manchester United agreed to terminate his deal at Old Trafford.

In the process, he became the highest-paid player in world football, with the Portuguese superstar reportedly earning £177m per year with the Saudi Pro League side.

And things could have turned out very differently, had he accepted an offer from Sporting Kansas City.

Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes told the Kansas City Star that the club held multiple meetings with senior representatives of Ronaldo before his move to Saudi Arabia and claimed negotiations “took on real legs”.

The Athletic report that at the time the MLS had an internal database of 50 players who would bring the greatest value to the league if recruited, with Lionel Messi and Ronaldo placed at No 1 and No 2, and Kylian Mbappe ranked third.

According to the report, Messi had not yet joined Inter Miami at the point Sporting KC entered negotiations with Ronaldo.

The MLS side were said to be “serious” with their approach and had suggested “creative packages that would have involved cuts of international jersey sales and potentially a stake in the ownership of the club”.

According to the Kansas City Star, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick – who has a stake in Sporting KC – was prepared to explain to Ronaldo what it is like to live as a sporting superstar in the city.

“The feedback was positive and one meeting became another, with senior figures at the team convinced they were down to the final two before Ronaldo opted for Saudi Arabia,” added the report.

The Athletic report claim that a move to the United States for Ronaldo was previously deemed as unlikely by multiple senior executives from other clubs due to several factors.

It is claimed that there had been a “quiet acceptance” that a transfer would not happen due to the costs involved in the signing the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, combined with “publicity that had surrounded” rape allegations made against him in the US.

Former model and teacher Kathryn Mayorga alleged that the former Manchester United and Real Madrid footballer raped her at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.

Ronaldo has always vehemently denied the allegations and has never been charged.

Mayorga reportedly reached an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo in 2010, worth a reported $375,000 (£304,000).

The cover star for the new EAFC 25 game has been ‘leaked’ ahead of the game’s official reveal later this summer.

The first edition of the rebranded ‘FC’ was released in September last year, following the naming rights of FIFA being revoked for the first time since FIFA 94.

EA have dominated the football simulation scene for decades after blowing competition from Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) out of the water in the 2010s.

Fan favourite features like Ultimate Team and CLUBS have helped cement the organisations choke hold on the industry.

However, Cristiano Ronaldo recently invested $40m in the new football game UFL, which plans to rival EAFC in the coming years.

The cover star of each year’s release is often met with a lot of anticipation, with the player chosen becoming the face of the biggest sports game in the world.

EAFC 24 saw Erling Haaland take over from Kylian Mbappe as the cover, and we are set for another change ahead of EAFC 25 with Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham according to reports.

Bellingham has catapulted himself into the spotlight since his move from Borussia Dortmund, arguably becoming the face of football.

The 21-year-old has won the Champions League, La Liga, and will have the chance to add Euro 2024 to his trophy cabinet this Sunday with England.

Bellingham’s iconic celebration was also added to EAFC 24 ahead of Euro 2024, which adds fuel to the fire of him becoming the star of the next edition.

Jude Bellingham- Getty

The youngster’s marketability as well as his staggering form last season makes him the obvious choice, and he could well become a mainstay with the brand similarly to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

The report also states that Bellingham will be joined by ‘new icon’ Gianluigi Buffon for the special edition of EAFC 25.

SportBible have contacted EA for comment.

Ronaldo and Messi, two of the greatest players of all time, spent close to a decade going head-to-head in Spain while playing for Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

They could meet again on Thursday when Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr and Messi’s Inter Miami meet in a friendly, although there are doubts regarding the fitness of the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star.

Last week Al-Nassr postponed two friendly matches in China after Ronaldo was ruled out through injury.

Last summer Ronaldo took a dig at MLS, just days after Messi signed for Inter Miami following his departure from Paris Saint-Germain.

When the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was asked by reporters what the future holds for him, Ronaldo suggested that Messi took the easy option in heading for the United States

“Returning to Europe, for me, is a closed possibility, I’m already 38-and-a-half years old and… it’s not worth it. Europe lost a lot of quality,” he said.

Ronaldo- Getty

“The only one that is one of the best is the Premier League, the Spanish league lost its level, the Portuguese one is not ‘top,’ the German one also lost a lot of quality. The USA? No, the Saudi championship is much better than the USA.

“In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi. In a year the Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league.”

However, Ronaldo’s recent admission that the Saudi Pro League has “bad habits” suggests his prediction was a little premature.

Former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson lasted just six months at Al-Ettifaq before returning to Europe to join Ajax, while several other European stars are said to be unhappy with the quality of the league and facilities.

Ronaldo won the Arab Club Champions Cup with Al-Nassr in 2023, while Messi and Inter Miami won the inaugural Leagues Cup just weeks after he arrived in Florida.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two of the highest scorers in football history but two goalkeepers got the better of them both from the penalty spot.

Portugal progressed to the last eight of Euro 2024 with a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory against Slovenia but it was Ronaldo who stole the headlines after breaking down in tears during extra-time.

Ronaldo was denied from the spot by Jan Oblak but confidently stepped up in the shoot-out to make amends for his earlier miss.

As always, the Al Nassr star is always compared to Messi given their status as two of the greatest players in football history and their penalty record is no different.

On the international stage, Messi boasts a penalty conversion rate of 82.8 per cent after converting 24 out of 29, while Ronaldo has recorded a success rate of 71.4%, scoring 20 out of 28.

The former Barcelona man also knows the pain of missing a spot kick against Oblak after the Atletico Madrid man kept out his penalty in the Copa del Rey quarter-final in 2015.

Oblak smartly read his run up to deny him from 12 yards but Messi had the last laugh with the rebound falling for the Argentine to smash home. Prior to his miss on Monday night, Ronaldo had a perfect record against Oblak, scoring on three other occasions.

That is not the case for the only other goalkeeper to deny both Messi and Ronaldo from the spot – with Ronaldo missing three out of the four he took against his bogey goalkeeper.

Ronaldo’s nemesis was former Valencia shot-stopper Diego Alves. The Brazilian saved a Ronaldo penalty in his debut season, and again in 2015 as well as 2017. Alves is responsible for saving 10% of Ronaldo’s missed penalties in his entire career.

The Portuguese isn’t the only one to suffer against Alves though, with Messi also failing to beat him from the spot. Alves denied the legendary forward in the 2012 Copa del Rey semi-final but again had the last laugh, knocking Valencia out before hammering Athletic Bilbao in the final.

Diego Alves saved penalties from both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (Getty)

In the past, Messi has stated his desire to increase his success rate from 12 yards.

“I would like to be more effective from the penalty spot,” Messi told Catalunya Radio back in 2018.

“But it’s difficult to work on penalties. It’s not the same taking them in training as it is in a game. You can have an idea in your head or something you have worked on, but it’s more difficult than it seems.

“The goalkeeper has a lot to do with it, too. If they guess right, they save it. But it’s obvious that I’d like to get better at taking penalties.”

For much of the last 20 years, the careers of Ronaldo and Messi have dominated world football.

The pair are two of the greatest players of all time, not only in terms of their individual abilities but also the accolades they have won.

They have won 13 Ballons d’Or, nine Champions Leagues, and a total of 76 titles between them, scoring a total of 1732 goals along the way, excluding friendlies.

The Portuguese and the Argentine were always battling for the title of the best player in the world, particularly when they both played in Spain with Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

It seems unlikely that their paths will ever cross again, but Ronaldo’s former Portugal teammate Pedro Mendes has suggested that the 39-year-old could link up with Messi in Miami.

Speaking to BoyleSports Mendes said: “If Cristiano Ronaldo joined Inter Miami it would be amazing for the fans and incredible for football in America.

“It would mean that the two best players in the history and future of football, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would finish their careers together which would be a dream come true.

“However, I can’t see it happening. It would be very difficult.”

It looks unlikely that the two legends will ever cross paths again on the international stage.

On Friday Portugal were eliminated from Euro 2024 at the quarter-final stage by France, in what might prove to be Ronaldo’s final outing at a major tournament.

Messi, 37, might make the Argentina squad for the 2026 World Cup. His immediate focus is on Argentina’s Copa America semi-final clash with Canada on Tuesday evening.

Featured Image Credit: Getty