Pitso Mosimane has explained why he didn’t fight to remain at Al Ahli amid the Saudi Pro revolution.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante are among the football superstars already in the Gulf region with Al Nassr and Al Ittihad respectively and more are set to arrive after the Public Investment Fund (PIF) secured takeovers of their four biggest clubs in the state.
That included Al Ahli, one of the founding members of the Pro League who have now been linked with moves for Sergio Ramos, Riyadh Maherez and Eduard Mendy in recent weeks.
While Moismane promoted them back and won the Yello League title, it became evident that the two parties were heading in separate directions as Mosimane was seeking an exit after not being paid for five months under the previous administration.
While the new ownersship were looking towards high-profile European coaches like Massimiliano Allegri and Jose Mourinho as his potential successor.
And Mosimane feels he needed to do what was best for his career as there were no reassurances about his future at the club, despite all the excitement brimming around what is set to come at the Jeddah giants.
“You have to follow your route, you can’t base your career on what can come, you need to look after what is in front of you,” Mosimane said when asked by iDiski Times why he didn’t look to stay at Al Ahli amid the revolutionary changes in the Pro League.
“So, when no correspondence and communication is coming your way of the future… why do you want to talk about the future? So I can’t talk about the future when nobody spoke about the future to me.
“So I had to be realistic and say, who are you, where are you? What do you want – and do that. I also listened to advice from other people in Saudi and whatever. So I had to move on and not envy what I don’t know.
“If I came to you and said ‘hey I will give you so much money next year what, what,’ okay but okay give me this one first, you know? Then we can move on to that.
“What is coming is unbelievable, it’s unbelievable what is coming with the PIF, it’s huge, it’s amazing, I think you remember what happened to China at one stage, it’s another level. So they can do anything they want to do.”
Mosimane has since joined UAE Pro League side Al Wahda, where he’s been set a mandate to fight for the league title.
