Neymar said goodbye to Europe and signed a two-year contract in Saudi Arabia – Photo: / Getty Images
Former Barcelona and Salzburg striker Jonathan Soriano (37) has had an eventful career. At DAZN, the Spaniard gave his assessment of Neymar’s move to the desert and told how he felt there himself.
Jonathan Soriano once matured into a professional footballer in Barça’s reserve team. After failing to make the first team for the Catalans, he joined RB Salzburg where he had the best period of his career.
In 202 games for the Austrians, he scored an incredible 172 goals and put on another 72. In the fall of his career, he went to Beijing Guoan in China. During this time, Chinese football was on the rise. Following Soriano put a short interlude in Saudi Arabia, where he was one of the European pioneers.
Escape after half a year
The goalscorer made just 12 appearances at Al-Hilal before returning home to Girona due to adjustment problems. “I had my difficulties, going to Saudi Arabia with a wife and three daughters isn’t the best idea,” says the 37-year-old meaningfully, summing up his stopover in the desert. The fact that the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is not exactly the rosiest had bothered the Spaniard.
Ex-Barcelona striker Jonathan Soriano is critical of Neymar’s move to the desert – Photo: Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com
Criticism and Neymar
The striker, who ended his career in 2021, cannot understand Neymar’s move to the club where Soriano was also under contract: “Neymar has the quality to lead a team that wants to win the Champions League , and I see he’s thrown in the towel.”
Soriano believes the non-European moves of Cristiano Ronaldo (38) and Lionel Messi (36) would have given the Brazilian the opportunity to lead world football alongside Kylian Mbappe (24) and Erling Haaland (23). Neymar would have gone for the money instead.
Jonathan Soriano also lost a few words about Neymar’s new club and found a conciliatory conclusion: “Al-Hilal is the team with the largest following, the giant of Asian football. The team they want to build should win the Asian Champions League again . They proved that with this summer’s signings.”
Sources used
2023-08-21 19:22:48
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