Following his big-money switch from Paris Saint-Germain, Brazilian superstar Neymar has now made a bold claim about the "weak" Saudi Pro League he has just joined.
The former FC Barcelona attacker has insisted that, while many may perceive the Saudi top flight to be an inferior league compared to some of Europe's best, it is highly competitive and by no means "easy to win", and suggested that it could already better than the division he recently left behind, Ligue 1.
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"I assure you that football there is the same [in Saudi]. The ball is round, there is a goal. Because of the names that have gone to the Saudi league... I don't know if it is better than the French one," Neymar, who is currently on international duty with the Selecao, told reporters, per the Daily Mail.
"The training pace is intense, the thirst to win is great. I want to win titles with Al Hilal.
"Nothing changes in my head. People say that the championship is not known, that it is weak... everyone said that when I went to the French championship and it was the place where I suffered the most in.
"It's not going to be easy to win the Saudi championship because there are other teams that have gotten stronger, there are well-known players, and I'm sure it's going to be a very interesting league and that you're going to see it."
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Neymar joined the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane and N'Golo Kante in Saudi when he made the £78 million (R1.8 billion) switch from PSG to Al Hilal on 15 August.
While the league has already kicked into gear this season, the 31-year-old is yet to make his first appearance for his new side due to an ankle injury that has kept him out of action for the past six months.
Meanwhile, the Brazil international's new Al Hilal teammate Aleksandar Mitrovic, who made the move to the Middle East from England's top flight last month, has insisted that the Saudi Pro League will soon be one of the world's finest.
"I moved here from one of the best [leagues, the] Premier League and I think this, this league has all the things, in the future, in the next few years to become one of the best leagues in the world," Mitrovic told Euronews.
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Despite missing their star signing, Al Hilal have made an almost-perfect start to the new campaign, winning four of their five opening league matches and drawing the other to see them top the table.
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