“With money in hand, the mountains become flat”, this popular saying perfectly represents the growth of football in Saudi Arabia. The millions and millions of euros and petrodollars that are spent on both transfers and salaries mean that, at least, the start of the Arab League is highly anticipated. They are no longer just aged cracks those who set course for the Middle East, but more and more current figures decide to change their quality.
The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo to Al-Nassr at the beginning of 2023 was the foundation stone of this phenomenon and generated a kind of domino effect. His decision to leave European football to go to Saudi Arabia was the kickoff for something that is beginning to materialize.
It is true that El Bicho is 38 years old and his glory days are over, but he is still a figure that mobilizes. To put a fact on the table, the Portuguese is the top scorer in the history of football with 839 goals. A few days ago he stated: “The Arab league is good, it can be one of the best five in the world”.
The question that the whole world is asking is: Where do the millions come from so that top players choose Arabia over other destinations? The issue has a political background that seeks to boost the growth of the Saudi Pro-League.
But the beneficiaries are only 4 of the 16 teams that make up the league. Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad are supported by the Sovereign Wealth Fund, better known as the Public Investment Fund, which also bought Newcastle. And, obviously, Saudi Arabia’s wealth is due to oil, a product of which it is the largest producer and exporter in the world. Without going any further, only in 2022, the Saudi state oil company Aramco (the largest in the world), had a record profit of 161,000 million dollars, 46.5 percent more than the previous year.
Neymar, the unexpected star signing
Many are the figures who decided to head towards Saudi Arabia, but who Neymar, one of the most talented players in the world, has made the determination to take his football there at the age of 31 is a decision that had a lot of impact. It is true that the Brazilian was not going to be taken into account at PSG and that many teams in Europe were not determined to give him the opportunity to relaunch his career.
Against this background, Arabia seemed the quickest and most convenient escape route. Because? in a first place having Neymar was what the league needed: a megacrack still valid that can occupy the chair that was expected by Lionel Messi or by Kylian Mbappé, but that before their refusals was left without an owner. Besides, the Brazilian will be the counterpart of Cristiano Ronaldo.
At the club level, the footballer has 497 matches, where he scored 294 goals and distributed 190 assists. The statistics are overwhelming and, as is commonly said, quality is paid for. Al Hilal, his new destination, will pay 100 million euros to Paris Saint Germainwho in 2017 had disbursed 220 million and made it the most expensive transfer in history, and a contract as particular as it is tempting.
For two seasons, the former Barcelona will win 160 million euros. In addition, he will pocket 80 thousand euros for each victory of the team and €500,000 every time you mention Saudi Arabia on your social media. Undoubtedly, an irresistible offer from an economic point of view, but one that leaves the feeling that Neymar will waste all his abilities in a league that will be too small for him and meet all the expectations that existed when he surprised the whole world with his dribbling and occurrences within the playing field.
The new faces that arrived
In this transfer market, and taking the aforementioned clubs as a parameter, 581 million euros were spent on transfers alone, but beyond the overwhelming number, what is most surprising are the surnames they bought. Al-Nassr, a team that already included Cristiano Ronaldo, signed Marcelo Brozovic for 18 million euros, Seko Fofana for 19 million, Alex Telles for 5 million and the great Sadio Mane bomb for 40 million.
Al-Ittihad did not spend as much on buying passes, but was able to sign Karim Benzema freecurrent winner of the Ballon d’Or, N’Golo Kante, world champion in 2018. Finally, he signed Fabinho, from Liverpool, for 46 million euros and Jota for 28 million.
Al-Ahli put together an offensive trident that promises a lot: Riyad Mahrez, recent champion of the Champions League, was bought for 35 million, Allan Saint-Maximin for another 35 million and Roberto Firmino left Liverpool after the end of his contract and signed as a free player. In addition, they reinforced the goal, since they added Edouard Mendy, who cost 18 million, the defense with Roger Ibañez, a defender from Roma for 30 million, and the midfield with Frank Kessie, who cost 12.5 million and left Barcelona .
The team that disbursed the most and that was nourished the most by figures who were active in European football was Al-Hilahe. Neymar for 100 million, Rubén Neves for 55 million, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic for 40 million, Kalidou Koulibaly for 19 million and Malcom for 60 million were the additions. In total they disbursed €274 million.
Out of the four teams that are financed appears Al-Ettifaq, whose coach is Steven Gerrard, and who only brought three reinforcements at the moment: Jordan Henderson for 14 million, Moussa Dembele and Jack Hendry for 7 million.
All these transactions are a clear example of the money spent. On the other hand, European clubs complain that they cannot compete against the exorbitant figures offered to footballers, while they see the level of the best continental football weaken.
Messi and Mbappe, the elusive targets of Arab football
When it came to adding figures, there was no better opportunity than the one they experienced Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in this transfer window to be able to tempt them. The offers were huge and almost irrefutable, but both the Argentine and the French decided not to go to the Middle East.
The Argentine captain had an offer of 400 million euros. The number is impressive and any footballer would say yes to such an amount, but Messi put the personal before the economic and opted to play for Inter Miami.
MbappeFor his part, he is in conflict with PSG because he does not want to renew his contract that expires in June 2024. A few days ago information emerged that they would have offered him a contract of 700 million for one season and then they would give him the freedom to choose your destiny. Besides, he wanted to compensate the Parisian team with 300 million. The operation would have been around 1000 million, but the Turtle prefers to spend a year “hanging” in Paris and then define his destiny.
Cristiano’s first title and the first date of the Saudi Pro-League
Cristiano Ronaldo is the new sheikh of Arab football. It is that the Portuguese already began to return his dividends with titles and shouted champion for the first time in Saudi Arabia. Al Nassr beat Al Hilal 2-1 in extra time and won the electric final of the Arab Clubs Championship. The Portuguese was the author of the two goals for his team, he reached the 35th title of his career and at 38 years old he continues to make football history.
On the other hand, the Saudi Pro-League had its premiere and several of the players who made their debut were protagonists of their matches. It took Roberto Firmino 72 minutes to show all his quality, since he scored a hat-trick and led to Al-Ahli’s 3-1 victory over Al-Hazm.
The other Brazilian who scored three times was Malcom, who was the great figure for Al Hilal in the 3-1 win against Ahba. Benzema dressed as an assistant and was instrumental in Al Ittihad’s 3-0 victory over Al Raed.
Finally, Sadio Mane, who had played in the final of the Arab Clubs Championship on Saturday, started again and scored a goal in Al-Nassr’s 2-1 defeat against Al Ettifaq, a team led by Steven Gerrard.
The vision of Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA
“I think it’s a mistake of Arab football. It was a similar mistake in China, which bought players at the end of their careers. Tell me just one footballer who is top, who is at a top age and who is starting his career, who has gone to play in Saudi Arabia. Why is it a problem for them? Because they should be investing in their academies, in bringing in coaches, and they should be developing their own players. The system of buying players who are almost finishing their careers is not a system that develops football”, Aleksander Ceferin said in June.
This vision, at the time, was not wrong, but it did not age well. The reality is that there are cases of players who, although they still competed at the highest level, were going through their last years in the elite -Kante, Benzema, Cristiano, Henderson…-. It is also true to be able to project in the long term it is not enough to bring players, but rather a youth training process is needed so that both the level and the demand of the competition can be sustained.
Which It is not real, it is that only players who already had their golden days go. Cases like those of Ruben Neveswho was wanted by Barcelona, Milinkovic-Savicwho was in the portfolio of Juventus and Premier League teams, Saint-Maximin, who occupied a place in Newcastle that achieved its historic entry into the Champions League, and himself Sadio Mane that would be an important piece in almost any team in the world, they give the pattern that this premature project has one more seasoning.
This season will be the first with so many figures in the Middle East, it will also be the first in a long time that vintage players in Europe like CR7, Messi or Benzema will be out of the ring. Only time and the decisions – right or wrong – that are made can be judges of whether the Saudi Pro League project manages to be successful or if it is just a passing nebula that will remain in the memory.
2023-08-15 10:32:58
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