Ahmed Musa, the captain of Nigeria's Super Eagles team, has caused a FIFA ban on Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr. The status of the ban on Al Nassr prevents the club from registering new players ahead of the 2023/24 Saudi Pro League season.
The ban by the world's football governing body was due to Al Nassr's failure to pay Leicester City the money owed them over Ahmed Musa’s transfer in 2018.
Al-Nassr have been banned by FIFA from registering new players for failing to pay add-ons owed to Leicester as part of the Ahmed Musa deal. Between 2018-20 Musa triggered £390k (€460k) in performance-related add-ons, which are yet to be paid despite CAS ruling in #LCFC's favour. pic.twitter.com/IlR1T2kuuE
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) July 12, 2023
Al Nassr acquired the services of Ahmed Musa from Leicester City in 2018 as mentioned above but has failed to pay add-ons owed Leicester City as part of the player's deal.
Nigeria's record goal-scorer in the World Cup triggered the €460 thousand worth of money in performance related add-ons for the Foxes in his two-year stay at Al Nassr.
But despite the Court of Arbitration for Sports ruling in the matter in favour of Leicester City, Al-Nassr paid deaf ears to comply with the CAS ruling which has now resulted in the registration ban.
However, from sources in the public domain, there's a positive turn of event as Al Nassr has indicated interest in paying off the debt on knowing that the ban will be lifted in a matter of weeks provided the payment is made.
Ahmed Musa was part of the Al Nassr team that won the Saudi Pro League and Saudi Super Cup in the 2018/19 season.
What FIFA ban could mean for Al Nassr
Following the ownership shift to the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of four Saudi Pro League clubs in a move to privatize clubs in the league, a staggering sum of money was released from PIF to these clubs to make star signings and welcome these players into the Saudi Pro League for the 2023/24 season.
The Saudi Pro League has been under the control of the Ministry of Sports and relied on the state for financial support which necessitated the need for privatization of clubs in the Saudi top-flight.
On this note, the nine-time league champions, Al Nassr, have been quick to add further European level players to their ranks since acquiring Cristiano Ronaldo by bringing in the 2023 Champions League finalist Marcelo Brozovic who arrived this summer. There's a chance to also add Hakim Ziyech from Chelsea to their set-up and perhaps a few other players.
Nevertheless, Al Nassr's three-year ban could mean that the club won't be able to register new players which also means the club won't be able to make signings since they won't be able to register them pending payment of what's due to Leicester City.
Meanwhile, philanthropic Ahmed Musa who left Al Nassr in 2020, will be surprised to hear about this news but will hope that these clubs are able to settle their differences on account of his transfer.
Furthermore, Al Nassr are currently camping in Portugal for preseason in preparation for the coming campaign and will not allow this FIFA ban news derail their preparations.
As they look set to try and fashion a way out of this, preparation for next season is of utmost importance as the team has already played their first preseason game.
AlNassr Portugal Camp 2023 || First match 📸 pic.twitter.com/UZrh0Jn4yh
— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) July 10, 2023
Ahmed Musa's performance for Al Nassr
Ahmed Musa moved to Al Nassr on 4 August 2018 on a permanent deal worth €16.50 million shortly after impressing at the FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Musa went on to make 50 appearances for Al Nassr, scoring nine goals and winning the Saudi Pro League and Saudi Super Cup in 2019. In October 2020, Al Nassr announced that Musa was leaving.
In 2023, Ahmed Musa plays football for Sivasspor having signed a two-year deal for the Turkish club in September, 2022 as a free agent, but is yet to register a goal for his current club.
This article was most recently revised and updated 1 year ago
