Kante, Ruben Neves and Karim Benzema
Posted on: July 14, 2023: 02:16 AM GST Last updated: July 14, 2023: 02:32 AM GST
It was not long after the Saudi Public Investment Fund announced its acquisition of 4 Saudi clubs that Karim Benzema came to Jeddah to play with Al-Ittihad, the champion of the Roshan League, as it was a moment when the world knew that the Saudi League had become one of the most attractive destinations in the world of football.
Ngolo Kante followed him directly, followed by Robin Neves, Marcelo Brozovic, Kalidou Coulibaly, Edward Mendy and Roberto Firmino, which made business agents and officials in European clubs accused and worried at the same time about the new competitor that appeared in the Middle East and was able to lure players to move to Saudi Arabia.
Jan van Winkle, the former technical director of the Saudi Football Association, receives dozens of calls daily from people asking him for a phone number for an official in a club, or asking him for help in reaching decision-makers within Saudi clubs.
Jan Van Winkle receives dozens of calls daily from business agents, in order to obtain an official number in a Saudi club or the Professional League, as they search for anyone who helps them reach the new kiss in the world of football.
“The Saudis are very smart,” Van Winkle, who spent most of his sports career in Saudi Arabia, told The New York Times. “They don’t spend money just for the sake of spending. There is a business strategy.”
Van Winkle was not the only one who faced the endless stream of requests, but many of those working in Saudi clubs said that they had received messages through their personal pages on the “LinkedIn” site to obtain information and help pave the way to reach the Saudi market.
And the “New York Times” followed: The Saudis were keen to avoid the mistakes of the Chinese League, which appeared brilliantly for a short period of time about 7 years ago before its collapse, as they want to build a sustainable project, and for this reason the Professional League issued a set of basic rules for targeted contracting operations this summer.
The rules of the association include recommended contracts, players in their late twenties or early thirties, obtaining the approval of the association for any player who earns more than $3 million annually, and preventing Saudi teams from entering into a bidding war against each other.
In addition to the above, any player who is found to be using an offer as a bargaining chip to obtain a larger amount of money will enter the blacklist immediately, and a sports director will be appointed to work in the League, Michael Emenalo, who worked for many years in London Chelsea and French Monaco.
Al-Hilal made a collective offer to five Chelsea players, which angered the officials about the exaggerated transfer fees, and the possibility of their impact on upcoming deals. Here, the League decided to change its approach by having Saad Al-Lathif take over the files to control the system. He is the man who will later be one of the most important names in the transfer market. european.
Latheshi’s colleagues define Saad as polite, intelligent and efficient, speaking fluent English, while Van Winkle says of him: he thinks very carefully.
Not much is known about Al-Latheef except that he obtained a master’s degree in project management from the University of Liverpool, according to what was published by the Professional League, and it is said that he is interested in American football, and he is now president of the Professional League, and he previously held the position of vice president and was present on the boards of directors. European clubs owned by Prince Abdullah bin Musaed, including England’s Sheffield United.
It is not known how much those experiences affected the current delicious experience by selecting and negotiating with the best football talents, as employees at Sheffield United remember that he was helping to allocate the budget and evaluate performance, and was not responsible for player selections, not even attending board meetings.
Al-Latheez divides his time between London, Paris and Spain in order to sign players away from the noise and the media, in order to keep Saudi Arabia’s carefully coordinated plans on the right track. Access to him is very difficult and he tries to stay out of the spotlight and refuses to speak to the media “including the request of the New York Times” and if What a business agent wants to meet with and claims that he represents a player, he is required to submit an authorization from the player, or even to meet the player himself. The policy of deliciousness is direct talk, which is the direct approach without resorting to intermediaries.
Two European agencies are working with Al-Latheef informally to ensure that he can communicate directly with the players that the clubs and the League want, as he focuses on those who benefit the league and contribute to its development, and a source close to the League’s management said: They are focused on completing the master plan.
Even the most powerful agents in European football were told they would contact you if the Saudis needed to talk to one of their clients and there would be no preferential treatment for one player over the other, a lesson the Saudis learned from the Chinese experience.
Al-Lathifi fully controls who enters the Saudi market, and who is the player, the club, or even the business agent who can reach Saudi Arabia. He is the person that business agents and brokers must talk to if they want to complete their operations. His phone number is what everyone is looking for, but for the majority. It is the number they will never get.
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2023-07-13 22:16:00
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