The desire to continue at the top level motivates players never to give up. Even though Cristiano Ronaldo stuttered initially, his persistence with Al Nassr seems to be paying off now. One such other player has also moved to the Gulf as Ronaldo’s teammate on a $43,850,000 transfer. The former Liverpool star’s move to Al Nassr was inspired by his mother, for a rather peculiar reason.
Some heavy monetary benefits, coupled with the opportunity to try something new, have been good factors to join the Saudi Pro League. However, Senegalese icon, Sadio Mane, shared how his mother’s opinion complimented his thoughts about shifting to Saudi.
Former Premier League winner has a personal reason to joining Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi
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Courtesy of a big money move, former Liverpool player Sadio Mane joined Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. The transfer came after a gloomy few months in Germany with Bayern Munich. Mane stated that his family encouraged the move and that his mother gave him a thumbs-up to move the kingdom, given its demographics and culture.
Mane said, “My family encouraged me to come to Saudi Arabia, especially since it is a Muslim country. My mother was very happy and insisted that I chose Al-Nassr.”
Around a month ago, Mane revealed that he also took suggestions from two of his former Liverpool friends who asked him to join their clubs. Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino, and Fabinho also joined the great migration.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🗣️- ساديو ماني :
والدتي هي التي أصرت على أن اختار عرض #النصر 💛💛💛💛💛💛 pic.twitter.com/ULoVkv5pVh
— داريو النصر (@Nfcdiario) September 10, 2023
While Henderson joined Al-Ettifaq, Firmino, and Fabinho joined Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli, respectively. The Senegalese player had a successful Liverpool career winning the Premier League and the Champions League.
Now at 31 years old, he has moved to the SPL, and here the challenges will be slightly different. Mane came to Saudi on the backdrop of an average stint at Bayern Munich. He scored 12 goals for them in 38 appearances across all competitions.
A change in the scenery and the challenges that await
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The SPL might not have as many challenges as before, like the EPL or the Bundesliga, but it would not be a walk in the park either.
Mane has already scored 5 goals in 6 games for Al Nassr. A formidable team is at his disposal, boasting the all-time highest goalscorer along with Marcelo Brozovic and Alex Telles. But other teams like Al Ittihad and Al Hilal have also managed to develop star-studded squads.
Al Nassr did not win last year’s league despite having Ronaldo in their team. They finished second in the table and still qualified for the AFC Champions League starting next week.
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The Riyadh club will go to Tehran to play the first match of their AFC campaign against the Iranian side Persepolis FC on 18th September.
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