Former Chelsea star, Frank Leboeuf, has said that Jhon Duran made a mistake by leaving English Premier League side, Aston Villa to join the Saudi Pro League side, Al-Nassr.
According to Leboeuf, the striker should have remained in the English top flight instead of moving to the Middle East like Cristiano Ronaldo.
DAILY POST reported that Former Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, had shared his thoughts on the same issue, expressing ‘surprise’ over Duran’s decision to make the big-money move.
The striker was just beginning to make a name for himself in the Premier League before leaving this January to join Al Nassr, a club also featuring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and Marcelo Brozovic.
The 21-year-old scored 12 goals in the first half of the season for Aston Villa, despite playing second fiddle to Ollie Watkins for most of the campaign.
He made no secret of his grievances over a lack of regular playing time under manager Unai Emery.
Frank Leboeuf told the ESPN that such moves are not for players of Duran’s age.
“At 20 no way, never! Why do you want to leave top-level football? That’s insane. You have to have in your blood the love of football,” he said.
“With all due respect to the Saudi League, it’s for almost retired players. I did that in Qatar, the same in the MLS, we’ve seen that before in Japan. It’s not for a 20-year-old.
“There are people who will say he can come back. We had Fofana go from Lens to Saudi Arabia and then went back to Rennes. It doesn’t work because it’s too hard, you drop your level.”
DAILY POST reports that Cristiano Ronaldo is about to sign a new deal with Al Nassr. The Portuguese football icon is in contract talks with the Saudi side.
His current deal with the Pro League club expires at the end of June.
