The Chief Executive of Al-Hilal, Esteve Calzada, believes that a loan movement for Cristiano Ronaldo would have been “contraindative” because of their rivalry with Al-Nassr.
Ronaldo was associated with a move to Al-Hilal prior to their club World Cup campaign after the five-time Ballon d'Or winner announced that he would leave Al-Nassr when his contract went.
The 40-year-old scored 93 goals in 105 performances in all matches for Al-Nassr, with speculation building after FIFA introduced an extra transfer window earlier this month due to the renewed tournament that took place in the United States.
Both rival Riyadh clubs are controlled by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the country, and Ronaldo was out of contract with Al-Nassr at the end of June.
But Calzada played the possibility of a movement and said it was unrealistic since the Portugal captain had played for their “biggest opponent” in Al-Nassr.
“Normally we don't comment on the situations of players, especially because our name is always placed, when a player or agent wants to negotiate a better deal with his club, or tries to move,” Esteve Calzada told BBC Sport.
“It has been a very strange transfer window, it is a very short period. You don't want to make a decision to think about this tournament that you have to go on for the next two or three years.
“As much as I respect Ronaldo as a big player, as we all recognize, it is certainly completely counter-intuition that you take the biggest player of your biggest opponent to play with you. Even more if it is only three to four weeks.
“We have tried to see if we can strengthen the team. But some players were with a mindset of 'vacations already', some players sometimes just asked for too much money and we are aware that our team is extremely competitive.
“We are still going to the traditional transfer window after the tournament with the greatest ambitions to see if we can strengthen the team even more.”
Calzada spoke for the first match of Al-Hilal of the Club World Cup, when they record Ronaldo's former club Real Madrid at the Hard Rock Stadium on Wednesday.
Prior to the tournament, Al-Hilal named former inter-boss Simone Inzaghi as their new head coach, but chose not to make signing sessions before the competition began.
The Captain Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United revealed that he had rejected the chance to sign for Al-Hilal because he still wants to play “at the highest possible level”.
“I cannot confirm or deny that we have been interested in him,” Calzada added to the situation around Fernandes that took place earlier this month.
“He is a big player, it fits with the profile of the player that we think would be good for Al-Hilal, just like many others.
“We do not remember contact with players because we feel they would say no to us.
“The names with which we are linked demonstrate the club's ambition. We believe that we are able to pitch [to] Every players nowadays. “
The will of Darwin Nunez and Napoli's Victor Osimhen, who went through in Galatasaray last season, are also linked to the Saudi Pro League side.
While we refuse to comment on those two players, Calzada said: “We focus on the biggest players.
“We are very ambitious, but we have to see the player hunger and the transaction has to work in both sides.
“The only thing we have tried to remember players and agents is that yes, we come from Saudi, but we do not print notes here!
“My role as CEO is to ensure that we run the club efficiently, so that we can have the biggest budget to have large players, but not free of charge.
“That is why we sometimes run away from negotiations, because we still want players to want to come extremely and are not just looking for the money.”