Former Newcastle United man Christian Atsu makes strong Saudi Arabian league claims
Ghanaian winger Christian Atsu says he’s happy in Saudi Arabia, rejecting claims that they have a weak league.
Atsu moved to Al-Raed in the summer as a free agent. The 29-year-old surprisingly opted to continue his career in Asia after seeing out his contract with Newcastle United.
“The negotiations to move to the ranks of Al-Raed were very easy. I am happy to be here. I played in several leagues and some people say that the league here is easy, but what I have seen so far in the first rounds of the league confirms that difficult,” Atsu said.
Since arriving in Saudi Arabia, Atsu has made a single appearance for Al-Raed due to fitness issues.
“I hear that the Saudi league is weak and the masses do not go to the courts, but since my arrival I found everything is different,” Atsu added.
He continued , “frankly, there is a big difference between the ball in England and Saudi Arabia . in England , they are more organized and they have a tactical commitment And when you watch the Saudi League, you can see that there is an organization, but for 30 minutes to 45 minutes, then in the second half there is a slackening.”
“It’s only about the technical quality that they have there more than the players in Saudi Arabia, and that’s what I think, and the Saudi League is also excellent based on what I see and it’s not easy to play here because of the heat as well.”
Al-Raed are expected to include Atsu in their next game which is after the international break with the winger recovering from injury problem.
Atsu has not been named in Ghana squad for this month’s World Cup qualifying double-header against Zimbabwe.
