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Cristiano Ronaldo Reveals Saudi Pro League is better than MLS after Lionel Messi joins Inter Miami.
Following Lionel Messi’s transfer to Inter Miami, Cristiano Ronaldo asserts that the Saudi Pro League is superior to Major League Soccer and declares he would never play in Europe again.
After his contract with Manchester United expired in December of last year, Ronaldo made the unexpected move to Al-Nassr.
This summer, a number of well-known athletes have moved to Saudi Arabia, including Steven Gerrard, the former captain of Liverpool, Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, and Roberto Firmino.
After choosing to leave Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer earlier this summer, Messi decided to take a different route and was later presented as Inter Miami’s new signing on Sunday evening.
Ronaldo strongly ruled out a return to European football after Al-Nassr were defeated 5-0 by Celta Vigo on Monday night in a preseason friendly and believes several leagues have dropped in quality.
‘No, that door is completely closed,’ Ronaldo told Portuguese media when asked about a potential return to a European club.
‘I’m already 38-and-a-half years old and it’s not worth it.
‘In my way of seeing football, I think Europe has lost a lot of quality. The only league that for me has a lot of quality and is at a higher level than all the others is the Premier League.
‘The Spanish league does not have that great quality. The Portuguese league is a good league, but it is not a top, top league. The German league I think has also lost a lot. I’m sure I won’t play in Europe again. I want to play in Saudi Arabia.
Asked about a possible move to MLS, Ronaldo replied: ‘I think the Saudi league is much better than the United States. My team is Al-Nassr.’
Ronaldo, 38, also believes he has been the catalyst for several other players to make the move from Europe to Saudi Arabia this year.
‘100 per cent. It’s a fact,’ Ronaldo said.
‘It was going to take a year, but it was six months. I was wrong for six months.
‘But I knew this was going to happen because in the Italian league, when I went there, it was also dead and then rejuvenated.
‘Where Cristiano goes, it generates greater interest and I knew it was going to be like that. I’m sure that next season more stars will go there [to Saudi Arabia].’