Credit: Twitter
The legendary Liverpool player, Steven Gerrard was formally announced this week as Al-Ettifaq's new head coach in the Saudi Pro League, joining a long line of well-known figures who have recently accepted lucrative jobs in the Gulf nation. Former England defender and Gerrard's teammate, Rio Ferdinand criticised former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher for being silent on Steven Gerrard's relocation to Saudi Arabia.
But as shown by his viral Twitter outburst last month in response to Manchester City's Bernardo Silva being linked with a move to the Middle East, his old Anfield teammate Carragher is not a fan of the effect the mega-rich competition is having on the game.
Carragher had stated that sports washing should be washed and claimed that Saudi Arabia has taken over Golf, Boxing and are on their way to taking over football. Despite his stern statements, Carragher made no statement when Gerrard was introduced as the manager of Al-Ettifaq, which Ferdinand felt forced to highlight.
"Jamie Carragher, .where are you man? I heard a lot of talk, a lot of negativity about Saudi. Bernardo Silva, I can't believe it. It's a disgrace. It needs investigating this league etc'. Steven Gerrard's gone. You used to carry his boots and his bag at Anfield. Your boy has gone over there, I haven't heard a peep out of you," said Ferdinand angrily in a video.
Watch the video here:
Jamie Carragher was quick to respond to the allegation on Twitter itself. Carragher claimed that while he had never objected to anyone choosing to play in the Saudi Pro League, he did object to the government trying to use its financial clout to control a sport, as it has been accused of doing with boxing and golf in the past.
He then attacked Ferdinand for supporting Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two countries where he had previously held expert positions. When the BBC criticised Qatar for having a bad record of upholding human rights, Rio was not there as a commentator.
The exact tweet was, "Never criticised Silva, Benzema, Neves or SG, I don’t like Saudi trying to buy football like they have Golf. I knew you’d be all over it @rioferdy5 🤑🤑🤑like you were in Qatar! Thats why you refused to do the opening game for @BBCMOTD didn’t want to criticise your paymaster!"
The two continued fighting via words further. Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Ruben Neves, and Edouard Mendy are just a few of the high-profile players drawn by the lucrative contracts offered by the Saudi Arabian football league, which has invested billions of dollars in an effort to compete with the best clubs in Europe.
