Al-Nassr keep reshuffling the pack at boardroom level, scrambling to restore order after a recent financial crisis that has cast a shadow over the club, on and off the pitch, with the new season looming.
Debts of around 800 million Saudi riyals have imposed a new reality. Sorting out the finances now comes first, and that has shaped every move the management have made this summer.
Al-Nassr may have struck a deal with Portugal’s Samu Costa, currently at Spanish side Real Mallorca, but the transfer remains unfinished as money troubles bite. Instead, the hierarchy chose to look inwards, most notably tying Abdulrahman Ghareeb to a new contract before the campaign gets under way.
Read also: The hardest decision: has the time come for Al-Nassr to part ways with Cristiano Ronaldo?
Cost-cutting and restructuring drove the next move. Al-Nassr’s management stripped back the financial powers of the current executive team, which includes Portuguese sporting director Simao Coutinho and contracts director Jose Semedo, all in a bid to keep spending in check over the coming period.
Media figure Abdulaziz Al-Osaimi lifted the lid on another decision: the club have removed Portugal’s Luis Paravita from the board of directors and the executive committee, a move that has gripped the Al-Nassr faithful.
That decision carries real weight. Paravita was seen as Cristiano Ronaldo’s man on the Al-Nassr board, making him the latest figure to exit as the club appear to be tearing up their entire administrative structure, hunting for a way out of the financial mess and a return to stability before the season begins.
