Zlatan Ibrahimovic has shared his views about soccer players who chose to play in the Saudi League for money, leaving European soccer. The 42-year-old Swedish striker resigned from AC Milan in June after a trophy-loaded career.
This trend of superstar performers swapping elite European football for the riches on offer in the Middle East. It began when Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr on the rear of seeing his contract canceled at Manchester United.
On Piers Morgan Uncensored of why he would never tread that career path, Zlatan Ibrahimovic said that he had big money proposals from China and Saudi Arabia, but he preferred to finish off at a big and historic club as AC Milan. He was clear with his objectives of achieving greater heights in Europe. It is important for certain players to finish their career on the big stage because that is the high end of their career.
🗣️ Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia:
“I had an offer also from China. I had an offer also from Saudi, but the situation is, what do you want? What objectives do you have? I said before we started that certain players need to finish their careers on… pic.twitter.com/7EAS4nOqg6
— Football Talk (@FootballTalkHQ) October 6, 2023
“You have to be remembered for your talent, not for what you earned.” Zlatan said. He said certain players that reach a certain level, they have to stop at a certain stage, and that’s the big stage. They cannot go in a lower stage and finish their career in a different way. But some players needed the situations where you can earn a lot of money because they didn’t earn enough, that said taking an alleged dig at Cristano Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s lucrative Al-Nassr contract
Cristiano Ronaldo has made history after inking a deal with the Saudi Arabian Pro League club Al-Nassr, making him the highest-paid soccer player of all time. According to reports, the new contract will give him an annual paycheck of roughly $200 million. Al-Nassr is ready to capitalize on Cristiano’s worldwide popularity and offered him a $500 million deal for two and a half seasons.
Al Hilal President: Cristiano Ronaldo is by far the best signing in the Saudi league, I think Al nassr having him in their club makes them the biggest club in Asia. pic.twitter.com/MvIIZtNCQl
— OWN GOAL (@Own_Goal1) October 6, 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo consented to a ground shattering agreement of a staggering $223.8 million every year, the most essential of its sort in the domain of soccer. At the point when it is broken down, this infers he will be paid $13.94 million every month, $3.2 million consistently, $633,333 consistently, $26,389 each hour, $439 each moment, and $7.3 each second.
Ronaldo joining Al-Nassr has eventually opened the door for many superstar players to break the stigma of leaving Europ and playing in the Saudi Pro League. After he signed for Al-Nassr in late December in 2025, everyone criticized him. The likes of Karim Benzema, Neymar Jr., Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante and Marco Verratti has since joined him.