“Figured out where his loyalties lie” – Ronaldo’s Ligue Un comments symptomatic of being a puppet for Saudi Arabia | OneFootball

Stan Collymore has suggested that Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent comments regarding Ligue Un are as a result of him being a puppet for Saudi Arabia.

It’s not the first time that one of the best to have ever played the game has come out with a real nugget, given that Ronaldo wants to play a match with his son, meaning he would have to play until he was at least 43 realistically to see that come to pass.

Though he might see himself as the Benjamin Button of football, time waits for no man.

Ronaldo is just a puppet for Saudi Arabia

In any event, Adil Rami was just one to round on the Portuguese star (Daily Mail) after comments that Ronaldo made about the French top flight being weaker than the Saudi Pro League at the Globe Soccer Awards just before Christmas.

Stan Collymore believes that Ronaldo’s outburst is symptomatic of a player being ‘bought’ by an entity and then having to parrot whatever the entity wants to be heard.

Cristiano Ronaldo of Al-Nassr celebrates scoring his team’s first goal against Al-Gharafa. (Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

“Ronaldo’s comments on the Saudi league being better than French football, that this player was better than that… I think at this point we’ve pretty much figured out where his loyalties lie, haven’t we?” the former Forest and Liverpool ace told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“Much like when David Beckham was ambassador for the Qatari World Cup, or Lionel Messi going and playing in the United States and signing a big deal with Apple, these guys are big business around the world and whoever buys them gets their opinions. Opinions that can be shaped by the people that bought them.

Ronaldo has bigger reach and influence than Beckham, Messi

“I think that their influence in the game will only grow. Beckham’s certainly has, and I don’t think he touches the sides when it comes to the reach that Ronaldo has.

“Beckham was a global icon as much for the fact that he’s a good looking boy married to a pop star, he had a lot of personality and would sell everything and anything.

“In the same way that Pele was arguably bought lock, stock and barrel by FIFA and rolled out to certain events , so I think that it won’t be a surprise to see Cristiano Ronaldo doing the same.

“I just think we need to get used to global superstars in the coming generations having way much more political play than ever. And when I say political play, you only have to look at George Weah.

“[…] Let’s be perfectly honest, if Donald Trump and Elon Musk can put themselves forward as leaders in the free world, then the global recognition of top class footballers that are on people’s screens 24/7, 40 weeks of the year, could ensure that you absolutely see Cristiano Ronaldo as prime minister of Portugal or president of FIFA, for example.”

FIFA have shoe horned Messi’s Inter Miami into the Club World Cup of course, a controversial decision that was widely derided given that the MLS side only had a minor piece of silverware, the Leagues Cup, to show for their season.

It goes to show that Collymore’s opinion isn’t too wide of the mark, and perhaps we should expect more of the same in future.