Cristiano Ronaldo has wasted little time in ensuring he and his family are royally received in their new homeland, MailOnline can reveal.
The star striker, whose move to Saudi Arabia last week has made him a super-millionaire, is living in accommodation fit for a king that affords him the best view of the capital in the plushest of surroundings.
The former Manchester United star, who has signed for the largely unheralded Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League with a package worth more than £400m, is staying in the Kingdom Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the country.
He has been put up in one of the best suites that Riyadh can offer in one of 17 rooms occupied by his entourage, including his family, friends and security detail.
The self-proclaimed ‘GOAT’ hardly has to lift a finger as his every need is tended to inside the plush suite of the hotel where the best room sizes cover more than 3000ft.
He has been booked into the giant-sized suite for a month and the Kingdom Suite, one of the best in the 99-story building, stretches to two floors.
The cost of the hotel suite is not even listed on the hotel’s website and has to be booked privately, as does the adjacent ‘Royal Suite’. But the smaller ‘Presidential Suite’ can be booked online and the cost for a night is a staggering £3300 a night.
It is estimated that the hotel bill for Ronaldo and his entourage will surpass £250,000 when he checks out and has found a permanent home for his partner Georgina Rodríguez and their five children.
Until then they can enjoy the most spectacular views of the city and tuck into the finest food at their five-star temporary home.
The hotel says of its Kingdom Suite: ‘Entertain guests with unparalleled views of Riyadh. Our newest two-storey suite spans the 48th and 50th floors of the Hotel, with a soaring living room, a private office, a dining room and a media room.’
Its ‘Royal Suite’ offers less space, but at 2,595ft it would still be bigger than most apartments in Britain, where Ronaldo twice lived during his stints with Manchester United.
The hotel says the suite offers panoramic views of Riyadh ‘and its surroundings lend a unique sense of exclusivity to this versatile suite, which features an elegant dining room, pantry, living room and executive study.’
To dine the Portuguese star can enjoy ‘the best of dishes from China, Japan, India and the Middle East, with the freshest ingredients to order.’
As an athlete, the 37-year-old player has to be careful how much food he consumes and keep an eye on the fats and calories.
But if he wants to indulge, a full fry up for breakfast or the hotel’s signature dishes which include sea bass, beef cutlets and many of the finest lamb and chicken dishes by top chefs for dinner are available to the footballer, who describes himself as ‘unique’.
Because of his celebrity status, chefs are providing an exclusive in-room dining service for Ronaldo and his family.
Staff have been asked not to request selfies with the star, but he has been accommodating guests and their children and has been seen thanking hotel workers as he enters and leaves.
The finest dining elsewhere in the Saudi capital has also attracted Ronaldo, who on Saturday night visited Japanese restaurant Miyazo which offers ‘contemporary cuisine driven by passion, for an opulent world and a creative lifestyle.’
He was seen wearing a gold and black patterned zip-up jacket and a giant crucifix and posed for selfies at the request of diners as his security guards looked on.
Ronaldo has also dined on Lebanese cuisine with a Saudi prince and the country’s top sports officials at upmarket Diriyah.
Georgina, who has 44 million Instagram followers, compared to Ronaldo, who has 530 million, has also found the hotel very much to her liking as it offers her luxury shops on her doorstep and is set in a mall which houses favoured brands such as Louis Vuitton and the less pricey Zara which she has been spotted in.
There are also tennis courts, massage treatments and a spa with a sauna and steam room.
If Ronaldo wants to turn on the romance with Georgina, the hotel can offer him an exclusive evening meal on the Sky Bridge, at the top of the Kingdom Tower, which is one of Riyadh’s most popular tourist destinations.
His hotel has promised to seal off the entire Bridge from the public and set up a
table in the centre of the bridge. On its website, the Four Seasons states: ‘Riyadh’s most breath-taking view is all yours during a private dinner for two at Sky Bridge.
‘Spanning the top of Kingdom Centre, home to Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh, the 300-metre-high bridge gives you an unmatched panorama of the glittering city below.
‘At a candlelit table set at the centre of the bridge, you’ll indulge in a three-course gourmet dinner prepared for you by our Four Seasons culinary team.
‘A professional photographer will capture every romantic moment. . . from dusk till dawn, the stars will never leave your eyes.’
While Ronaldo and his family stay in their hotel, a search is ensuing to find them a permanent quality bolt hole.
Ronaldo and his family are likely to live in one of the city’s prestigious neighbourhoods, such as Al Muhammadiyah, which is known for its top-end restaurants, or Al Nakheel, which is popular with families due to its international schools.
Both areas are close to Al Nassr’s 28,000-seat stadium at Mrsool Park, formerly known as the King Saud University Stadium, and boast a large number of high-end gated compounds, built for Western residents.
Many feature their own swimming pools, pre-schools, shops, clinics, gyms and restaurants, meaning residents hardly ever have to leave.
The compounds allow expats to indulge in weekend get-togethers with fellow Westerners behind closed doors, although alcohol is banned as it is throughout Saudi Arabia.
Property rental websites in Saudi Arabia do not list any high-end rental compound properties as they tend to be let out through private agreements with employers of expats.
But properties currently for sale in Riyadh include an eight-bedroom palace priced at 55 million Saudi Riyal (£12.2million) which includes an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a reception foyer with waterfall-features and three additional villas in its grounds.
The palace which could sit alongside Ronaldo’s reported portfolio of eight other properties around the world is in the Al Macqa neighbourhood just three miles from Mrsool Park, and includes accommodation for maids and chauffeurs.
He has plenty of time to help Georgina and aides locate a suitable mansion as he is banned from playing competitive football until he has served a two-match suspension for hitting a mobile phone out of the hand of an Everton-supporting schoolboy last April.
But he is set to appear against his great rival for the title of ‘GOAT’, the newly crowned World Cup-winning Argentine captain Lionel Messi.
An Al-Nassr source said he is likely to play ‘around 30 minutes’ in a friendly against Messi and PSG in Saudi Arabia on January 19, three days before he makes his Saudi Pro League debut for his table-topping team at home against Ettifaq, who are eighth.
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
