Cristiano Ronaldo has declared that the Saudi Pro League is superior to Major League Soccer in an interview with Portuguese publication A Bola on Monday.
The pronouncement came only days after Ronaldo’s long-time rival Lionel Messi completed his move to the David Beckham-led club Inter Miami in the MLS.
The Portuguese superstar, who joined Al-Nassr at the end of last year, also revealed he has no intention of playing for a European club again.
“I won’t return to European football, you can forget about it — the door is completely closed for my return.”
The 38-year-old was speaking after Al-Nassr’s 5-0 defeat to LaLiga side Celta Vigo in a pre-season friendly in Lisbon.
“I’m 38 years old, and also Europe has lost a lot of quality. The only one that is one of the best is the Premier League, it’s way ahead of all the other leagues from my point of view.
“The Spanish league lost its level, the Portuguese one is not a top one, the German has also lost a lot of quality. The USA? No, the Saudi championship is much better than the USA.”
Ronaldo’s move to Riyadh has opened the door for an influx of some of the world’s highest profile players into the Roshn Saudi League.
Since the privatization of the Kingdom’s top clubs earlier this summer, the likes of Karim Benzema, Roberto Firmino, N’Golo Kante, Reuben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and other stars have followed Ronaldo’s path to Saudi.
“I’m 100 percent sure I won’t return to any European club,” Ronaldo said. “I opened the way to (the) Saudi league last January, and now all the players are coming here.”
“In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi,” he added. “In a year the Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league.”
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