Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Saudi Arabia marks a 'sad end' to the legendary forward's career, insists Jamie Carragher.
Ex-Manchester United striker Ronaldo has joined Al-Nassr in a deal worth around £177million-a-year, making him the highest-paid athlete in history.
Ronaldo is heading to the Middle East
It comes after his Old Trafford contract was ripped up by mutual consent in November following an explosive interview with TalkTV host Piers Morgan.
The 37-year-old was also dropped by Portugal at the World Cup before their quarter-final exit to Morocco, while his famous rival Lionel Messi guided Argentina to glory.
And according to Carragher, the whole thing is rather tragic.
"In some ways, it's a sad end for him," the Liverpool legend told Sky Sports.
"Two of the greatest players in Messi and Ronaldo - Ronaldo has finished his career during an interview with Piers Morgan and Messi has won the World Cup.
"It's not the best way to go out."
Messi is still achieving at the highest level
The Saudi Pro League is not known for its quality and British fans will not be able to watch Ronaldo, with no UK TV deal currently in place.
And his former teammate Gary Neville says football fans have seen the last of Ronaldo at the elite level.
"We're going to see a lot less of him, obviously," Neville said.
"It tells us a couple of things. One, how serious Saudi Arabia are about football. They aren't going away. They've invested £350m on one player. They are trying to strengthen the league.
Ronaldo fell out of favour at United
"But for Cristiano Ronaldo, I felt as though he would want to stay, for the rest of this season at least, in one of the big leagues in Europe and score more goals. Potentially find a Champions League club.
"It tells me that the offer is staggering. Maybe the club that he wanted in Europe didn't come in for him and this was his option to go for.
"An element of sadness, in terms of we've probably seen the last of Ronaldo playing at the top level.
"I think we could have continued to see it at Old Trafford had both parties handled things differently. That had to come to an end - it had to close before the World Cup. It was an inevitability in the end."
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