Ighalo, who played for Al-Hilal, was the best scorer in the Saudi Pro League last season, however, he was released at the end of the season. He now thinks that Ronaldo, who joined Al-Nassr alongside Benzema, is doing the same thing, having travelled to the nation just for money.
In an interaction with OmaSportsTY, Ighalo said, “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 one, two years or when God will tell it to stop.” He added that he believes it will not be more than 3 years. He also stated that he used to play for passion and 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.”
Jordan Henderson is the most recent player who moved to Saudi Arabia this summer. This transfer window has also seen the arrival of Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Ruben Neves and Roberto Firmino.