When Saudi Arabia’s ‘offensive’ on European football just about a year ago, with the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo to Al Nassr, the players just kept coming the following June 2023. Many footballers, although in declining years, are still considered stars, and their rushed to the desert, searching for that last big, fat contract. Along with them came the ‘second wave’ of players, who still have a lot to offer to the world of football but got greedy and just took the money, and Aymeric Laporte is one of them. At only 29, the French-born Spaniard left Manchester City to play for Al Nassr, and other players followed, too, like Ruben Neves (26), Gabri Veiga (21), Allan Saint-Maximin (26), Aleksandar Mitrović (29), Sergej Milinković-Savić (26) and many others. 🗣️ Aymeric Laporte on playing in Saudi Arabia: “They haven’t made it easy for us. In fact, there are many players who are dissatisfied.The ultimatum you can give them doesn’t matter to them. I mean, they’re really going about their business. You negotiate something and then… pic.twitter.com/D7dCfvFaRq— Football Talk (@FootballTalkHQ) January 20, 2024 But, the first ‘cracks’ are appearing in Saudi Arabia and two players stood out from the crowd. Jordan Henderson and Karim Benzema. The former Liverpool captain couldn’t take it anymore and signed as a free agent for Ajax, while the stories are still circling that former Real striker is still not with the squad in training camp. And now Laporte admitted openly that many players are not happy in the desert. “They didn’t make it easy for us. Actually, a lot of players are unhappy, but we are working on it every day, we are negotiating so to speak, and we will see if things improve a little bit because it is something new for them too, having European players who already have a long career. Maybe they are not used to it and they have to adapt to a little more seriousness. They take care of us, but not enough for my liking. In other words, in Europe, they pay you a good salary, but they take care of you a lot more” said the Spaniard in his interview for AS.It’s all about the money – when you don’t get it: Hendo returns to Europe with his reputation dentedIn other words, the Saudis gave a lot of money, and they believe that the grown-up players can take care of themselves. But the European players are used to being ‘nurtured’ by their clubs and expect that in the desert, too. Laporte also complained about big traffic jams and how he spends ‘hours in the car’.”To be honest, many of us didn’t come here not only for football. Many of us are happy with it, but I’m also looking for something other than the financial aspect. In terms of quality of life, I expected something different” admitted Laporte.##NAJAVA_MECA_7812041##
