Jamie Carragher has teased Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo over his interview with Piers Morgan and Lionel Messi winning the World Cup after his move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr was announced.
Ronaldo left the Red Devils by mutual consent at the end of November following a controversial interview with Morgan, in which he criticised the club, manager, senior executives, former players and more.
It was a disappointing end to his second spell at the club with speculation over the summer that he was trying everything to engineer a move away from Old Trafford.
There were claims that Ronaldo was unhappy with the lack of Champions League football on offer this season at Man Utd but his move to Al-Nassr shows that wasn’t at the top of his list of priorities.
The Saudi Arabian side will pay him a reported base salary of $75m with CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs claiming Ronaldo ‘can earn closer to $200m per season with all commercial opportunities and incentives included’.
There has been a debate for years over who is better between Messi and Ronaldo and Carragher insists it must be disappointing for Ronaldo to see Messi end his career with a World Cup, while he moves to Saudi Arabia.
“In some ways it’s a sad end for him,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “Two of the greatest players of all time in Messi and Ronaldo. That debate has always been there.
“Ronaldo has finished his career with an interview with Piers Morgan and Messi has won the World Cup. It’s not the best way to go out is it?”
And former Man Utd right-back Neville admits that he will be sad not to see Ronaldo playing in one of Europe’s top leagues.
Neville added: “Look, we’re going to see a lot less of him, obviously.
“It tells us a couple of things, it shows how serious Saudi Arabia are about football. They’ve invested £350m on one player and are going for the World Cup in 2030.
“I thought he would want to stay in one of the big leagues in Europe, for the rest of the season at least.
“It tells you that the offer is absolutely staggering and maybe another European club that he wanted to join didn’t really come in for him.
“There’s an element of sadness for me because we’re probably seeing the end of Cristiano Ronaldo playing at the top level.
“I think we could have still had that at Old Trafford had it been handled differently by both parties. But it clearly had to come to an end and he’s going to see his career out in Saudi.”
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