If Al Nassr has signed Cristiano, Platense has nothing to envy: Ronaldo is a new reinforcement

With strobe lights, fireworks, smoke machines, electronic billboards and his image projected outside Riyadh’s Msool Park stadium, he was welcomed Cristiano Ronaldo, who on Tuesday signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Saudi Arabian al-Nassr that will allow him to pocket around 200 million euros. 13,000 kilometers from there, in Vicente López and without much pomp, Even the Platense fans have begun to get excited about the idea of ​​shouting Ronaldo’s goals.

But not those of the Portuguese star, winner of five Ballon d’Ors and all-time top scorer for Real Madrid and his country’s national team, but the Paraguayan Ronaldo Iván Martínezwho on Friday signed a contract with the Squid until December 31, 2023 and with an option to buy 50% of its token for an amount that has not been disclosed by the club.

The striker is 26 years old, was born in Eusebio Ayala, a city of 23,000 inhabitants located 72 kilometers east of Asunción, and is, by all accounts, the son of a fan: his father chose his name in honor of the Brazilian scorer who shone at Real Madrid, Inter and Barcelona, ​​among others; and the second by Chilean striker Iván Zamorano. Therefore, it would have been strange for the offspring to lean towards the practice of volleyball, taekwondo or the modern pentathlon.

Guaraní Ronaldo trained in the lower divisions of Cerro Porteño and at 19 he made his debut in the Primera del Cyclone on 25 July 2015 in a day he will certainly never forget: he entered the match against San Lorenzo 10 minutes from the end, corresponding to the fourth round of the Clausura 2015, and scored the goal with which his team saved the draw 1 to 1.

After that dream debut, he didn’t have much room in Cerro, so in February 2018 he went to Deportivo Capiata, where he served for one semester. At the beginning of 2019 he made his first experience in Argentina with the shirt of North Center. With the team from Salta, led by former Boca goalkeeper Ezequiel Medrán, he did outstanding work, was a key player in promotion from the Torneo Regionale and then scored five goals in Federal before returning to his homeland.

Once again with no chance at Cerro Porteño, he broke ties in mid-2021 and moved to Bolivia to represent The Strongest for one semester. In 2022 he returned to his homeland to play for the newly promoted Resistencia Sport Club, where he finally managed to establish himself and contributed 13 goals in 40 games so that the Red Triangle the permanence will be assured. His good performances brought him to Platense.

Martínez became the seventh reinforcement to join the squad led by Martín Palermo. Previously, goalkeeper Ignacio Arce (of Unión La Calera in Chile), defenders Gonzalo Asís (Independiente) and Miguel Jacquet (Nacional del Paraguay), midfielders Franco Díaz (Vélez Sarsfield) and Nicolás Castro (Patronato) and the striker Nicholas Servetto (Almagro ).