"Did Ronaldo go to Saudi Arabia out of passion? It's for money"

The talk of the summer has been what feels like droves of players leaving Europe's top leagues for the Saudi Pro-League, who seem to be throwing money at players to attract them to the up and coming league.

There has been no shortage of criticism for players making the move, some of which even comes from other footballers. One such critic is Odion Ighalo, who played for teams like Watford, Granada and even Manchester United before he made the move to Saudi Arabia, spending two seasons each with Al-Shabab and Al-Hilal, before leaving the latter a free agent.

The striker has now come out to criticise Cristiano Ronaldo, who believes he opened the door to joining Saudi teams, and has stated his move was soley driven by money, rather than "playing out of passion" as the Portuguese star would claim.

"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 one, two years or when God will tell it to stop", said the Nigerian to 'OmaSports TV'.

"I know it won't be more than three 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", he continued.

"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", he concluded.

 

July 28, 2023