Cristiano Ronaldo sent shockwaves across the world when he decided to join Al Nassr from Manchester United. The 5 time Ballon d’Or winner joined the Saudi League with astronomical earnings of $200 million a year. Ever since, a host of top European players have followed suit with a high wage package being the common denominator.

While the general consensus is that this mass exodus of top European players to SPL will increase the quality of the league; former Manchester United player Dwight Yorke, however, had a different notion.

Dwight Yorke’s controversial opinion on the Saudi Pro League

In an interview with OLBG; Dwight Yorke voiced a bold opinion out loud. Commenting on the potential inclusion of Saudi League teams in the Champions League; the former Manchester United player believed that the Saudi teams are far from the quality required to be in the CL. The main reason cited by him was that despite the big names coming in, none of them are in their prime to compete in Europe.

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“The age of the Saudi Pro League is not good enough to be in the Champions League,” said Yorke. “The players who have joined that league, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, N’Golo Kante, and Karim Benzema, they were all in Europe when they were in their prime, they’ve gone to the Saudi Arabian league now they’re in their mid-thirties,” boldly opined the midfielder.

Interstingly, these comments come right after Cristiano Ronaldo’s bright prediction for the Saudi League.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s conflicting thoughts

Last month, right after Lionel Messi joined the MLS, Cristiano Ronaldo was quipped about the level of the Saudi League in comparison to the other leagues. In reply, the former Real Madrid legend gave a bold reply. The former Juventus talisman opined that currently, the Saudi League is better than the MLS. He then predicted that thanks to the European players who followed him to SPL, the Saudi League will soon overtake Turkey and Netherlands.

“The Saudi league is better than MLS. I opened the way to the Saudi league, and now all the players are coming here.” said CR7 speaking to ESPN. “In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi. In a year the Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league,” boldly opined the Real Madrid legend.

Do you agree with Ronaldo’s interesting prediction for the Saudi League? Or do you agree with Yorke that SPL is far away from being considered Champions League level? What are your thoughts on this?

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