Saudi Arabia cautious – England’s little ones spend a lot – International Football

Transfer-Trends

By dpa

August 22, 2024, 06:27

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Football: Premier League, England, Chelsea FC – Everton FC, 28th matchday, Stamford Bridge: Joao Felix (r) from Chelsea FC in action against Michael Keane from Everton FC. (to dpa: “Saudi Arabia cautious – England’s little ones spend a lot”) Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/DPA

There has been no continuation of Saudi Arabia’s major transfer attack so far. However, there have been new developments on the transfer market.

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The left behind are arming themselves

FC Bayern Munich, Manchester United, FC Chelsea, Atlético Madrid and Olympique Lyon – these heavyweights had nothing to do with winning the championship in their home leagues last season. So what are they doing? Of course, upgrading. All five have spent well over 100 million euros on new players.

Football: UEFA Europa Conference League, Aston Villa – Olympiakos Piraeus, knockout round, semi-finals, first leg, Villa Park. Moussa Diaby of Aston Villa celebrates his goal to make it 2-2. (to dpa: “Saudi Arabia cautious – England’s little ones spend a lot”)

Photo: David Davies/DPA

Atlético, for example, signed the Argentinian world champion Julián Alvarez for a fixed price of over 70 million euros. Bayern spent more than 100 million euros on the Portuguese João Palhinha and the Frenchman Michael Olise alone. Chelsea has paid much more than any other club so far (for João Félix and Pedro Neto, among others) – and the London club could add other heavyweights such as Victor Osimhen.

Saudi Arabia is holding back

Football: DFB Cup, SSV Ulm 1846 – Bayern Munich, 1st round, Donaustadion. Munich’s Joao Palhinha in action. (to dpa: “Saudi Arabia cautious – England’s little ones spend a lot”)

Photo: Tom Weller/DPA

Last summer, the clubs in the Saudi Pro League spent a total of almost one billion euros on new players. Currently, the figure is “not even” 200 million euros. This is still a lot of money, of course, but the expected major attack has not yet been continued. The top transfer so far this summer is that of ex-Leverkusen player Moussa Diaby, who moved from Aston Villa to Al-Ittihad for 60 million euros.

Little Englishmen with big money

No other league gets as much TV money as the English league. It is therefore not a new trend that even the relatively smaller Premier League clubs can spend a lot of money. This summer, this is particularly noticeable. So far, Brighton & Hove Albion, Aston Villa, West Ham United and AFC Bournemouth have already spent well over 100 million euros on new players. Even newly promoted Ipswich Town has already paid over 80 million euros.