20 January 2024 , 14:52
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Sadio Mane has jumped to the defence of the Saudi Pro League after some high-profile players questioned the quality of the division.
The Saudi Pro League is in its infancy and has turned heads by attracting players like Mane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema. But the Middle Eastern project has been under the microscope of late, with Jordan Henderson’s early exit from Al-Ettifaq firing a warning shot about the long-term prospects of the league.
After joining Ajax, Henderson said his six months in Saudi Arabia had been “difficult”, while former Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte, who plays for Al-Nassr, admitted “many players are dissatisfied” since signing their lucrative contracts in the country. Mane left Bayern Munich to join Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr last year and has 12 goals in 26 games for the club.
Unlike other foreign stars, he is happy in Saudi Arabia and hit out at reporters who asked about his situation after he scored in Senegal’s 3-1 win over Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations. Asked about whether he is getting less attention since his move, Mane replied: "That's what you think because I'm not in Europe. This is sad for you guys. Because, for you guys, if you don't play in Europe, it doesn't matter. I'm not around as a football player.
"Fortunately, I can say the Saudi league is a very good league, and watched by everybody in the world, so, for me, as long as I'm doing my best and I'm enjoying myself every single minute, that's more important. The rest, for me, doesn't matter."
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Mane’s comments come after Ronaldo made typically eye-catching comments at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai. The Al-Nassr striker said: "To be honest I think the Saudi League is not worse than the French league, in my opinion.
"In [the] French league I think you have two, three teams with a good level. In Saudi now I think it's more competitive. They can say whatever they want, it's just my opinion and I played there one year so I know what I'm talking about. But I think right now we are better than [the] French league, we still improve."
Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane are enjoying themselves at Al-Nassr (Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)Al-Nassr are second in the Saudi Pro League, seven points behind Al-Hilal, who have Aleksandar Mitrovic, Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Kalidou Koulibaly in their side, and are unbeaten in 19 league games so far.
Mane and Ronaldo may be delighted to be at Al-Nassr, but that feeling isn’t shared by their team-mate Laporte, who told AS : "It's a big change compared to Europe, but in the end it's all adaptation. They haven't made it easy for us. In fact, there are many players who are dissatisfied.
“But hey, we are working on it every day, negotiating so to speak, and seeing if it improves a little because this is something new for them too, having European players who already have a long career. Maybe they are not used to this and have to adapt to a little more seriousness.”