Chelsea beware! Cristiano Ronaldo would rank 29th in your squad

Cristiano Ronaldo bought a stake in Spanish second division side Almeria on Thursday, but could he soon be looking for a property in London? Chelsea have been sensationally linked with a move for the Al-Nassr attacker.

Chelsea are monitoring Ronaldo’s fragile position at Al-Nassr, with Football Insider claiming that the Premier League giants are weighing up the possibility of a summer move for the Portugal international.

The Blues are likely to be in the market for a new centre-forward, but is Ronaldo really the best the West London side can come up with?

Ronaldo hits troubled times in Saudi

Ronaldo has recently been unsettled in Saudi Arabia due to political issues. He feels that other teams have been treated more favourably than Al-Nassr and that this, in turn, has prevented him from winning silverware.

It prompted a brief strike from the forward, who missed a handful of games in January and was even tentatively linked with a mid-season move.

While nothing materialised and the storm eventually blew over, all does not feel right and there is a very real possibility that Ronaldo will be on the market come the summer, hence Chelsea’s interest.

A surprise Chelsea signing

Ronaldo to Chelsea would be a very surprising move on many levels. Not only has Ronaldo been away from a major league since 2022, but at 41 years old, he is the antithesis of the type of signing BlueCo have typically made at Chelsea.

The Stamford Bridge side’s owners have typically leaned on signing extreme youth; the Portugal star sits at the complete opposite side of the spectrum.

On top of this, Chelsea have posted record losses for a British football club over the course of the last year. Ronaldo would not come cheap. His wage sits at €200 million per year, according to reports, and even if they were to be 10% of this figure, it would be an enormous drain on the club’s resources.

Football Insider reports that Chelsea see this as a major commercial opportunity, potentially offsetting these fears.

Ronaldo could not cut it at Chelsea

But while Ronaldo might sell shirts and open new opportunities for Chelsea, what would his impact on the field be like?

Data analytics experts SciSports suggest that it would be negligible. Ronaldo would not be worthy of game time at Chelsea, the firm suggests.

Each player is given a SciSkill rating based on hundreds in-game data points; if Ronaldo were at Chelsea, his score of 62.4 would rank him 29th in the squad. This is behind the Blues’ other centre-forwards Joao Pedro (103.9) and Liam Delap (85.6).

Even in the Saudi Pro League, where Ronaldo has scored 14 goals in 16 games, SciSports casts doubt upon the added of the Funchal-born striker.

In its data-driven analysis, SciSports ranks Ronaldo outside the leading strikers in the division. Club-mate Joao Felix is by far and away the best-rated forward and he, of course, flopped at Chelsea. Karim Benzema and Alexandre Lacazette also fare better than CR7.

Ronaldo vs Saudi Pro League centre-forwards: Overall performance (2025/26)

All of this should come as little surprise. Ronaldo, after all, was unable to start for a mediocre Manchester United side more than three years ago. He mustered just one Premier League goal in 10 appearances in the first half of the 2022/23 season before ultimately falling out with Erik ten Hag and being released by mutual consent.

A risk worth taking?

If Chelsea’s plan is to profit from Ronaldo as a commercial entity, there may be some merit to making this move.

The data suggests, though, that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner would flop as a player at Stamford Bridge – something that would not do any favours to either the club or Ronaldo’s precious personal brand.

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