Cristiano Ronaldo has said he has opened the door for football players to come to Saudi Arabia and named its Pro League better than North America's Major League Soccer where his long-time rival Lionel Messi is now playing.
Broadcasters ESPN early Tuesday also quoted the Portuguese great as saying that he doesn't plan to return to a club in Europe where he said the quality of football was in decline.
Ronaldo signed for Saui club Al-Nassr in December after leaving Manchester United in acrimony.
Other players like Karim Benzema, Marcelo Brozovic, N'Golo Kante and Roberto Firmino have now followed, as has coach Steven Gerrard, even though rights groups have criticised this because of Saudi Arabia's human rights record.
"I opened the way to the Saudi league, and now all the players are coming here," ESPN quoted him as saying after a pre-season game in his native Portugal against Spanish side Celta Vigo.
"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."
Ronaldo said "the Saudi league is better than MLS" which has also attracted some big names in the past and present, the most notable now being Messi who has signed for Inter Miami.
Ronaldo played twice at United as well as at Sporting, Real Madrid and Juventus but ruled out a return to Europe in the dusk of his career - one reason being that according to him the quality of football there has dropped.
"I'm 100% sure I won't return to any European club. I'm 38 years old. And European football has lost a lot of quality. The only valid one and still doing good is the Premier League. They're way ahead of all the other leagues," he said.
