Cristiano Ronaldo would have considered a move to Celtic or Rangers in order to further cement his Champions League legacy.
That’s according to Piers Morgan, who has defended the Portuguese superstar’s mega money move to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr. Ronaldo negotiated his exit from Manchester United prior to the World Cup after an explosive interview with Morgan, in which he savaged Old Trafford boss Erik Ten Hag and the club’s board, many suspect in order to make sure he left the English Premier League giants.
Morgan insists he hasn't done it for the money, but to help grow the game in the Gulf state. The broadcaster says Ronaldo told him his first choice was to join a club that could offer Champions League football in order to break further records in the competition. However, no offers made to the player were deemed acceptable – somewhat contradicting Morgan’s point – and he opted for Al Nassr, who have made him the highest-paid footballer in history.
talkSport presenter Laura Woods challenged Morgan, asking whether he’d think the same of Ronaldo dropping down levels had he made the move to the Scottish Premiership were the money hypothetically been the same.
She asked: “Can I give you a quick scenario? If the Scottish Premiership had the money that the Saudis do, would you have the same opinion if Ronaldo went to play there?”
Morgan's response suggested that the 38-year-old would have been open to Rangers or Celtic had Champions League football was on the table. He replied: “Ronaldo would have gone anywhere that had Champions League football. I know for a fact because he repeatedly told me what he really wanted to do was extend his Champions League career. He has most of the records in the Champions League and he wants to extend them, probably so that Messi can’t catch him and that he ends up as the GOAT of Champions League football.
“That was his motivating factor. I do believe that he’s driven more by records and legacy than he is by money. He’s already got half a billion pounds so it’s not like he needs a few quid in Saudi Arabia; he just happens to be getting a stupendous payday to build football there from a very good platform of beating the World Champions (Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina in their opening game of the 2022 World Cup).
“So things did change a lot in the last few months in terms of the narrative of football in the Middle East. It was a tremendous World Cup for the region generally, so it looks a little less crazy than it would have done six months ago when Saudi were a complete irrelevance in football.
“I’m not going to pretend that what he’s doing is what he absolutely wanted as a first choice. What he wanted was to extend the Champions League, but he didn't get an offer that was acceptable to him.”
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