“To consider that Cristiano Ronaldo is taking a step backwards by going to Al Nassr, at almost 38 years old, is a bit ridiculous”

The signing of Cristiano Ronaldo for the Saudi club Al Nassr continues to make talk. And this time it is the Galician Raúl Caneda, who coached the club, who warns that the Middle Eastern country has the ambition to become one of the best leagues in the world after the signing of the Portuguese. Better, he adds that the country will not stop there, because it aspires to great things.

Were you, like almost everyone else, surprised by the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Al-Nassr? Partly yes, partly no. I already knew that in Arabia they wanted to give a greater dimension to their championship, and it was not for the money, because the potential is huge in this area. Moreover, we are talking about the most important championship in Asia.”

Do you think the Portuguese is wrong, that he is taking a step backwards? Why is he wrong? I saw Iniesta, Xavi and Raul leave for weaker leagues and nobody said they were taking a step backwards. Cristiano Ronaldo will have the best contract in the history of soccer. I think this kind of opinion is influenced by different phobias, including the Messi-Cristiano dichotomy. Iniesta didn’t go to Japan to eat sushi, I guess he did it for the money, and Xavi did a great job in Qatar. To consider that Ronaldo is taking a step backwards, at almost 38 years old, is a bit ridiculous, but maybe it’s a bit of that very European view, that sometimes we think we are the navel of the world.”

Please elaborate on this, “In Europe, we have for many things, and especially for soccer, the feeling of being the center of the universe. To give an example that is topical after his recent death, that of Pele: there are people who claim that the Brazilian doesn’t deserve to be among the best in history because he didn’t play in Europe, and you have to look at it almost the other way around: in those years, Pele’s Santos was walking around in the games he played across the Atlantic. But we don’t look at that. We have this ‘Eurocentrism’ and, on a different scale, it can happen to us now with Asia and the Middle East.”

Are you referring, for example, to Qatar and its controversial World Cup? For example. Qatar has a lot of financial means, some clubs with a soccer tradition, but Saudi Arabia is the nerve center of Arab soccer, it is 20 times Qatar. It’s like comparing Spain with Andorra. In Arabia, there is a maximum of eight foreigners per team and they are usually of a very good level, they usually don’t sign beyond 30 years. In 2012, when we played the Champions League semi-finals, three of the four qualifiers were from there. Al-Hilal has won two of the last four editions of this tournament and the Saudi finals are followed by 20 million people from Algeria, Morocco, Egypt… Al-Hilal-Al-Nassr is a kind of Real Madrid-Barcelona in the Arab world. Perhaps there is an ignorance of soccer in this country, which many only know from the World Cups.”

So, which league will Cristiano end up in? A very demanding league. I remember that I arrived at Al-Ittihad in February and I was the third coach that season. I hold the record of invincibility of all time in this team, but mine is without having changed coaches, because there is another record where they changed coaches even without losing. You have to make a clear distinction between the Persian Gulf countries. The Emirates and Qatar are very small, Saudi Arabia is the largest and has a very important tradition. To me, their soccer is the equivalent of Turkey’s. There is great economic power and it is difficult for good players to leave because they are paid too much.”

Cristiano’s 200 million : “Not that, of course. But three or four million net can be perfectly earned by the stars there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they offered more money to Messi, or if they start investing a lot of money in other top players in European leagues. Cristiano may be a warning that Al-Nassr’s rivals will also want a piece of the pie. It is clear that in Arabia, the state wants to aspire to great things, it will not stop at Ronaldo. They bought Newcastle and want to boost their league to the extreme, to place it among the 10 best leagues in the world. And Al-Nassr? Al-Nassr: A great club, one of the three biggest in Arabia and make no mistake: they will demand a lot from Cristiano. It is ridiculous to hear derogatory remarks about Al-Nassr. It will not be so easy for Ronaldo to stand out because of his age and because the level he will face will not allow it. In Arabia, there are three or four teams that could very well compete in the Spanish Primera División.”

So, no 50 or 60 goals again: “I do not know how many goals Cristiano will score. What is clear to me is that they do not sign him as a flower player, but to win games. They will not accept a bad performance from Cristiano under any circumstances. In Arabia, there were great players, like Bebeto, who did not meet expectations and suffered a lot from this pressure. Cristiano is not eternal, but he takes care of himself and lives for soccer. He is aware that everything he is paid is in exchange for a decent performance.”

And what about life, how will Cristiano’s life change? In this regard, I am curious to know what the Portuguese will find. The country has changed a lot in terms of freedoms, but we Europeans have a different way of life than the Saudis, and when I lived there, we had to live in Western housing estates. Then there is the weather, which almost always forces you to train at night. Al-Nassr has very good training facilities, which Cristiano won’t miss at all. As a public figure, however, he will find the atmosphere stifling.”