What if I told you last summer that a Ballon D’Or winner with 350 Real Madrid goals and 5 Champions Leagues, another Champions League winner, World Cup winner, with over 50 France caps and over 250 Chelsea appearances, a player with 70 Senegal caps and 300 Napoli appearances, a World Cup starting GK and starting keeper in a UCL-winning campaign, and a 41-capped Portuguese Wolves stalwart would all go to the same league in the same window, you’d think it would be the Premier League, or La Liga, maybe even the Bundesliga, or Serie A. But no. They are all selling their soul to move to the Saudi Pro League. And the window is just beginning.
An unforgettable moment in football history happened last December. No not the one on December 18th, but what happened 12 days later. Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Al-Nassr. It was a move that just the summer previous seemed inconceivable, yet after making Ronaldo the highest paid footballer on the planet, it happened. After scoring 14 goals in 16 matches for Al Nassr, Ronaldo somehow managed to turn scores more heads toward the Saudi Pro League. Combine that with copious amounts of cash and a country determined to secure a source of income after their oil is gone, and Saudi Arabia has managed to wreak havoc in the transfer window.
The Saudi Pro League has signed a “Big 5” of players so far this summer to add to Ronaldo; the first being Karim Benzema to Al Ittihad, then N’Golo Kante to Al Ittihad, Ruben Neves to Al Hilal, Kalidou Koulibaly, and finally, Edouard Mendy. However, as I’ve said, the window has just started.
Unlike the big European leagues, the Saudi league’s transfer window ends on September 20th, nearly 3 weeks after the big European leagues shut it down. Crucially, the Saudi clubs still have 82 days to do their transfer business. Considering the damage they’ve done in around 30 days, this is a concerning statistic.
As I explained in a previous post this month, there are 4 government-funded clubs in Saudi Arabia; Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, and Al-Ahli. These are the clubs getting all the stars. There are 3 AFC Champions League qualifying spots, with an additional one handed out for the domestic cup (King Cup) winners.
Who may be next for Saudi Arabia? ESPN’s Saudi transfer tracker has Neymar to Al Hilal, Bernardo Silva to Al Hilal, Saul to Al Nassr, Wilfried Zaha to Al Nassr, and Jota to Al Ittihad as potential deals. Fabrizio Romano has given the here we go to Marcelo Brozovic to Al Nassr, Hakim Ziyech to Al Nassr, and Roberto Firmino to Al Hilal, although Ziyech’s move is apparently off due to a failed medical, and Marcelo Brozovic to Al Nassr has been halted after Al Nassr changed their conditions at the last minute.
What’s my opinion? Of course, this is bad for football, but I think this is just a stage that football is going through which will pass. While Saudi Arabia may be players in the transfer window this summer, maybe even next summer, the money will run out soon enough, and if you’re not convinced about that, consider that a big part of their appeal is a 38-year old footballer. After Ronaldo leaves, a large part of the league’s appeal is gone.
Like it did with the Chinese Super League, the Saudi Pro League will return to its previous state soon, convincing a few past it half stars every season. Its appeal will run out, the novelty will end, and after it’s over, we’ll look back at this stage in football history as an odd one.
However, at the end of the day, what stage in football hasn’t been odd? Every summer we say “If I told myself one year ago ___ would happen, I wouldn’t have believed it”. Although I’ve only been watching football for 7 years, much less than other people in my field, I think I’ve learned something. Expect the unexpected. A year is a very long time. A lot can happen. And no matter what, my loyal readers, I will be here for the ride. I’m Jim James, until next time.