Don’t expect Portuguese star forward Cristiano Ronaldo to follow his longtime rival Lionel Messi to the United States. In a recent chat with reporters, Ronaldo made it clear that he doesn’t intend to play in MLS or return to Europe in the future.
Ronaldo spoke with the media after his Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia Pro League suffered a 5-0 loss in a friendly game against La Liga’s Celta Vigo. The 38-year-old player was asked whether he would make a switch to MLS and follow the footsteps of Messi, who recently signed with Inter Miami.
“The Saudi league is better than MLS,” Ronaldo responded. “I opened the way to the Saudi league, and now all the players are coming here.”
According to Ronaldo, Saudi Pro League will soon become better than some prominent European leagues.
“In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi. In a year, the Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league,” he added.
It appears that Ronaldo is also done with playing in Europe, at least at the club level.
“I’m 100 percent sure I won’t return to any European club,” he explained. “I’m 38 years old. And European football has lost a lot of quality. The only valid one and still doing good is the Premier League. They’re way ahead of all the other leagues.”
Cristiano Ronaldo was the first big star to come to Saudi Arabia, and others have followed. His former teammate Karim Benzema signed a lucrative deal with Al-Ittihad this summer, while a number of other prominent names followed, including Marcelo Brozovic, Edouard Mendy, N’Golo Kante, and Roberto Firmino.
Messi was also pursued by Saudi Arabia clubs and reportedly had a $1 billion offer on the table to make the switch. However, the Argentina captain ended up deciding to come to MLS and contribute to the popularization of soccer in the United States.
