Aaron Ramsey reveals he turned down Saudi riches for ‘priceless’ reason to rejoin boyhood club Cardiff in shock transfer
AARON RAMSEY turned down the riches of Saudi Arabia because being closer to his family in Cardiff was ‘priceless’.
SunSport exclusively revealed last month the Wales captain, 32, snubbed a lucrative offer to join Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Jordan Henderson in the Middle East.
And Ramsey, 32, says family values outweighed cash in his decision to return to his boyhood club after leaving Nice in the south of France for Championship outfit Cardiff.
Ramsey said: “Saudi Arabia is a hot topic with players. There are financial rewards for going there, which are very rewarding, and a lot of players can’t see past that sort of thing.
“I turned down a life changing amount of money by not going to Saudi Arabia. It was a lot, but I’ve been very fortunate in my career, and I’ve done okay so far.
“It was a real offer, but as soon as I knew there was an option to come back to Cardiff a lot of hard work went into getting that deal done.
“There were plenty of benefits to the offer over there, but it wasn’t the right time or the right thing to do for me, my career or for my family.
“We’re seeing a lot of players make that move, and the financial side of it just seems extraordinary.
“For another individual, it might be life changing, but for me, being around my family and things like that are priceless. You couldn’t put a figure on that.”
Ex-Arsenal and Juventus star midfielder Ramsey has been away from his wife Colleen and their three kids since he joined Rangers on loan in January 2022.
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Ramsey then moved to Nice while his family returned to South Wales where they are now reunited.
Ramsey added: “Going over to Saudi for an extra year or two, and trying to maximize that, would mean missing out on being around the family.
“I’ve got a young family who I’ve been away from for 18 months now, and it’s challenging coming back every three or four weeks to see them for one or two days.
“They change and learn new things on a daily basis and I’ve been missing out on a lot of that. I want to enjoy every single moment, because one day they’ll grow up and that’ll be that.
“I did have an offer to stay at Nice, but as a family we’ve been through a lot of change in the last four or five years with different schools in Italy and back home.
“We made the decision as a family that it wasn’t the best thing to put them through another change. We wanted them to be settled and to continue the progress that they’ve made in certain things back here.
“There are plenty of factors that go into people’s decisions, but I’ve made mine based on my situation. When there was a chance of coming back to Cardiff, it was a no brainer.”
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