Cameroon’s captain, Vincent Aboubakar, has said that Cristiano Ronaldo tried to stop him from leaving Al Nassr after the Portuguese star moved to the Saudi club.
The 31-year-old, who had six months left on his contract gave way to make room for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner in line with the limited number of foreign players eligible for teams in the Saudi League.
Even though the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star tried to keep him from leaving, Aboubakar signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Besiktas in January to return to Turkey.
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“We talked a bit and his [Cristiano’s] opinion was that he wanted me to stay – I told him no, that I will leave for family reasons,” Aboubakar said on the Canal+ show Talents d’Afrique.
“He asked me where my family was; I told him they are in France, and so I prefer to go to Turkey, it’s closer.
“And he told me ‘it’s better if your family is really far away, it’s more complicated’. I was firm, I wanted to leave.”
Aboubakar joined Al-Nassr from Besiktas in July 2021.
He scored twice at the 2022 World Cup, including a goal that made history against Brazil.
Even though he netted just 13 goals and six assists in 39 games for the Club, he said it was only natural for him to leave after Cr7 joined the team.
He also said, “I left a little angry because it was not easy.”
“When Cristiano arrived, [Al Nassr] coach Rudi Garcia called me into his office and told me that normally an international player has to leave, it’s either me or Jaloliddin Masharipov [from Uzbekistan], either me or Pity.
“I told him that I already wanted to leave before and, honestly, as Cristiano was coming, my playing time would be reduced, and it was better for me to leave.
“I had offers, including one from Besiktas. They wanted me to stay until the end of the season. I said, ‘no, honestly, president, I prefer to leave’.
“It was a bit complicated but finally they let me go.”
Aboubakar scored the most goals at the delayed African Cup of Nations held in his home country in February 2022.
He scored eight goals, the most since Benni McCarthy (South Africa) and Hossam Hassan (Egypt) scored seven in 1998.
Nine months later, he made headlines when he scored an “outrageous” goal for Cameroon against Serbia in Group G of the World Cup in Qatar.
He also scored the late goal that gave Cameroon a historic 1-0 win over Brazil, but it wasn’t enough to get them through, and he was sent off for taking off his shirt during the celebration.
Aboubakar was also the star of the 2017 Nations Cup final.
He scored Cameroon’s second goal, which helped them beat Egypt 2-1 and win their fifth continental title.
The forward, who once played for Lorient and Valenciennes in the past, has scored 39 goals in 95 games for his country.
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