Former Super Eagles striker Odion Ighalo has stated that Cristiano Ronaldo and other top footballers have chosen to move to Saudi Arabia for financial reasons.
In 2017, Ighalo made the decision to leave mainstream European football and join Chang Chung Yatai, following stints at Lyn, Udinese, Granada, Cesena, and Watford.
During his time at Yatai, Ighalo reportedly earned a weekly salary of €200,000 before transferring to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua where he continued to earn a similar wage.
After a year at Shanghai, the 34-year-old made a move to Manchester United on a six-month loan deal before joining Al Shabbab, where he started earning €170,000 weekly.
Subsequently, Cristiano Ronaldo made headlines when he made the move to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr in a lucrative three-year deal that would ultimately see him earn a total of €210.704 million.
“See people that are going to Saudi Arabia, big players. Is Ronaldo still playing for passion? He has made more than 100 times what I have in my life, but he still went to Saudi. You want to tell me that is passion? No, it’s for money.
“It’s only when we Africans say it they will say we like money. But these people don’t care, some of them want to be highest paid and all that,” Ighalo old Oma TV.
