Al Nassr's centre-back Aymeric Laporte has done the single biggest blow to the Saudi Pro League as he's come out to criticise the way players are treated in the country.
In an interview with AS, Laporte said: "It's a being change compared to playing in Europe, but in the end, you have to adapt. They [Saudis] haven't made it easy for us. In fact, many footballers are unhappy.
"But whatever, we work every day and hopefully little by little things change, because for them it's also a new thing to have important players from Europe. Maybe they need to be a little more serious."
When asked what exactly is missing for him, Laporte clarified: "It's daily routines. The life for them [Saudis]... they take it lightly. They don't care about ultimatums. You agree on one thing and then they don't accept it after you've already negotiated.
"I only speak from my experience and I don't know how others feel. To be honest, we didn't really come here for football, and many are happy with this, but I also want to see beyond that. I expected something different in terms of comfort of life but I end up spending three hours a day in the car because of traffic in Riyadh."
Despite the interview being done in Spanish, a language Laporte has mastery of, the footballer then claimed on social media that "not everything I said is what I think and at the moment I wasn't thinking a lot" and that "the translation is not good into other languages".
Laporte was part of the footballing bonanza in the summer of 2023 when he swapped Man City for being teammates with Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr.
However, mere months after the giant spending spree, cracks are beginning to emerge. If Laporte has only voiced his concerns, Jordan Henderson left the league altogether to join Ajax and won't get much of his Saudi money.
One person who seems to be enjoying the experience is Steven Gerrard. Although his Ettifaq haven't won in nine games in a row, he is set to sign a contract extension.
Cristiano Ronaldo may be another one who loves life in Saudi Arabia as he's just received another batch of awards from Globe Soccer.
