28 July 2023 , 06:48
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Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of moving to the Saudi Pro League "for money" as he prepares to start his second season in the country.
Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr in December after an acrimonious departure from Manchester United. The Knights of Najd were competing for the league title, but ultimately finished as runners-up to Al-Ittihad, ending up five points adrift of the champions.
Since arriving in the Middle East kingdom, Ronaldo has moved to defend the league's competitiveness, with many pundits mocking the standard of the division. But former United star Odion Ighalo has now poured cold water over the suggestion that Ronaldo moved for any reason other than money.
"When you are young, yes, you play for passion. Back then, you don't care about money. But at my age, I am in the final stretch of my career, I don't know if it will be 1, 2 years or when God will tell it to stop," he told OmaSportsTV.
"I know it won't be more than 3 years. I've played for passion all my life, now it's for money. I'm not one of those players who come and say: 'I play for passion'. Brother, it's money. At the end of the day, it's money.
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"Is Ronaldo still playing out of passion? Ronaldo has earned 100 times more than I have in my entire life and yet he went to Saudi Arabia. Did he do that out of passion? It's for money, bro."
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Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of only moving to Saudi Arabia for money (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)Ighalo spent the past three seasons playing in Saudi, first for Al-Shabab and then for Al-Hilal. He won the title in his first campaign with the latter, also picking up the Golden Boot award.
While Ighalo has been open about the motivations behind many players' moves to Saudi, Ronaldo has attempted to defend the league. Soon after Lionel Messi turned down Saudi to join Inter Miami, the Al-Nassr captain launched an attack on the MLS.
“The Saudi league is better than MLS. Now all the players are coming here. In one year, more top players will come to Saudi Arabia. I opened the way to the Saudi league, and now all the players are coming here," he said.
"I’m 100 per cent sure I won’t return to any European club. I’m 38 years old. European football has lost a lot of quality. The only valid one and still doing good is the (English) Premier League. They’re way ahead of all the other leagues.”
Jordan Henderson became the latest player to move to a Saudi side on Thursday, with the Liverpool captain being unveiled by Al-Ettifaq. His former team-mate Fabinho is expected to complete his own move to Saudi this week.
They join the likes of Ruben Neves, Karim Benzema and Roberto Firmino in moving to the Middle East. The moves are being bankrolled by the Saudi state through its Public Investment Fund, which owns the four biggest teams in the division.