A former Manchester United striker has stated that Cristiano Ronaldo only moved to Saudi Arabia for financial gain.
Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr in December of last year after leaving Manchester United.
Ronaldo makes £175m a year at Al-Nassr, and a number of other well-known players, including Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Ruben Neves, and Jordan Henderson, have since moved to Saudi Arabia.
From January 2020 to January 2021, Odion Ighalo was on loan at United, where he played in 23 games and scored five goals.
Ighalo then spent time at Saudi Arabian clubs Al-Shabab and Al-Hilal (with whom he won the league title), and is currently a free agent.
The striker stated that Ronaldo only moved to Al-Nassr for money rather than passion for the game. The pair didn’t play together at United, with Ronaldo making his return to Old Trafford in August 2021.
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Ighalo told OmaSportsTV: ‘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.
‘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.
‘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.’
Odion Ighalo on players joining him in the Saudi Pro League 🗣 pic.twitter.com/Qu7SOOxqId
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) July 26, 2023
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