Vincent Aboubakar has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo wanted him to stay at Al-Nassr despite claims that the Portuguese icon’s arrival forced him out of the club.

Following weeks of speculation, Al-Nassr finalized a deal to sign Cristiano Ronaldo on a free transfer in December. They notably handed the forward a £173 million per year deal to lure him to Saudi Arabia.

However, Ronaldo’s arrival meant that Al-Aalami had to offload one of their foreign players. In the first week of January, it emerged that the Riyadh-based club have axed Aboubakar to register their new signing.

Aboubakar has since put pen to paper on a two-and-a-half-year contract with Turkish giants Besiktas. While Manchester United were linked with a shock move for him, he eventually returned to the club where he has already had two stints at.

Having settled in at Besiktas, Aboubakar has now lifted the lid on his Al-Nassr departure last month. He quashed suggestions that he was forced out of the club due to Ronaldo’s signing.

The Cameroon international revealed that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner in fact asked him to stay put. He disclosed that he left the Saudi Pro League club of his own volition, contrary to claims.

Aboubakar said on the French television channel Canal+ [via Actu Cameroun]:

“With the arrival of Cristiano, I made it clear to the coach before his arrival that I already wanted to leave. When Ronaldo arrived, a foreign player had to be released.””Ronaldo asked me to stay and the club wanted me to stay at least until the end of the season but I wanted to leave. The club wanted me to stay and were ready to pay my salary until the end of the season.”

Since returning to Turkey, Aboubakar has already made four Super Lig appearances for Besiktas but is yet to net a goal.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s signed kit to be auctioned from personal collection to fund Turkey earthquake relief

A Cristiano Ronaldo autographed shirt from Merih Demiral’s personal collection will be auctioned, with proceedings going to disaster relief.

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Monday collapsed buildings and killed thousands of people, including at least one professional football player, and Demiral said he will do what he can to assist those devastated by the natural disaster. His personal kit collection includes a signed Ronaldo shirt from when the Portuguese star played at Juventus, and he will auction the item after speaking with the Al-Nassr forward.

“I just spoke with Cristiano,” Demiral wrote on Twitter. “He said that he was very sad about what happened in Turkey. We are auctioning Ronaldo’s signed jersey in my collection. All proceeds from the auction will be used in the earthquake zone.”

Demiral’s post immediately received tens of thousands of likes, and other football players are now offering up their own memorabilia. In a follow-up tweet, he wrote: “And now I talked to Leonardo Bonucci. He expressed his sadness and said that Turkey stands by our people. He also said he donated a signed Juventus jersey.”

Demiral played alongside Ronaldo at Juventus and now turns out for Atalanta. At international level, the 24-year-old has 35 senior caps with Turkey.

Demiral chose Turkish charity Ahbap as his preferred place to donate, but international organisations such as Turkish Red Crescent and Save The Children are among the other organisations currently accepting donations as they aid people on the ground in Turkey and Syria.

SOURCE: sportskeeda.com, goal.com