Roberto Martinez, Portugal’s coach and a man known for his close working relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo, has resurfaced as the name most strongly linked to Al-Nassr’s dugout. Saudi programme Nadeena reported this week that Martinez could take over if the Saudi club’s early-season slide continues under head coach Ange Postecoglou.
The pressure spiked after a 4-0 defeat to Al-Ain on 15 September in Al-Nassr’s AFC Champions League Elite opener. Houssine Rahimi struck twice before Soufiane Rahimi and Georgios Giakoumakis added two more. In the Roshn Saudi League, Postecoglou has drawn one and lost one of his two most recent matches, numbers that read uncomfortably at a club that signed him in July to raise the level around Ronaldo.
Postecoglou took the hit publicly after the Al-Ain match.
“The players gave everything they had, and I do not place any responsibility on them … and the responsibility is my responsibility. Al-Nassr as a whole was poor.”
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The Martinez-Ronaldo thread
Martinez has coached Ronaldo at international level since 2023 and has repeatedly defended the forward’s role in the Portugal squad through the 2026 World Cup cycle, even when his selections drew heavy criticism. Reports from RMC Sport in June linked Martinez directly to the Al-Nassr job before Postecoglou was eventually chosen. Al-Nassr’s former legal director Saad Al-Subaie publicly acknowledged at the time that Martinez was one of only two names left on the club’s shortlist.
Al-Nassr then went in another direction. On 3 July the club confirmed Postecoglou on a two-year contract as successor to Jesus, who had won the Saudi Pro League title before taking over Portugal. The appointment paired Ronaldo with a coach who had been sacked by Nottingham Forest after 39 days in charge.
A familiar pattern around Ronaldo
This is not the first time a Ronaldo-era Al-Nassr coach has found himself under scrutiny within months of arriving. In April 2023 the club sacked Rudi Garcia after a sequence of poor results, with Saudi reporting at the time pointing to a strained relationship between the Frenchman and Ronaldo. Garcia had publicly criticised Ronaldo for a missed chance against Al-Feiha, and Ronaldo had reportedly aired his dissatisfaction to the club’s leadership before the dismissal.
The Martinez talk also lands against the backdrop of Ronaldo’s open rift with Jesus, after Ronaldo left the Portugal camp during the current international window. Jesus is the same coach who crossed in the opposite direction, leaving Al-Nassr for Portugal in the summer.
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Al-Nassr sit third in the Roshn Saudi League with 16 points from seven matches, two behind leaders Al-Hilal.
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