Cristiano Ronaldo joins Jota fan club as superstar claims Celtic exit proves Saudi Pro League is better than MLS

Former Celtic star Jota has has quickly turned heads with his move to Al-Ittihad – including that of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

The winger opted to leave the Scottish Premiership champions in a big money deal that saw him join Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante in the mega-money Iittihad squad as he became the latest star to make the move the Middle East. And it was Ronaldo's mega move to Al Nassr that sparked a a slew of stars to spark controversy to join the Saudi League which has ambitions to become one of the world's biggest.

And now the former Manchester United, Juventus and Real Madrid star reckons that the arrival of Jota shows that the Saudi Pro League has also ready surpassed Major League Soccer. The MLS reference was a clear dig at Lionel Messi who joined Inter Miami and he hit back at UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin who said he had no fears over top European leagues losing players to the Middle East. Ronaldo said: "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.

"In a year Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league. Players who arrived aren’t like what the president of UEFA said. Jota and Ruben Neves are young players. I opened the way to the Saudi league, and now all the players are coming here. 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. My decision to join Saudi clubs was 100% crucial to bring in new top players. It’s a fact. When I joined Juventus, Serie A was dead and then after I signed… it was revived.