Cristiano Ronaldo: There has been a wave of players that have joined the Saudi Pro League in this summer transfer window alone. Cristiano Ronaldo joined the SPL side Al Nassr at the turn of this year in January. Since then, several big names from Europe including Karim Benzema have moved to the Middle Eastern country. This especially started when Saudi’s Public Investment Fund took control of 4 major clubs in the league. Barcelona President Joan Laporta weighed in on the situation and slammed the players saying they are not making the move for “sporting reasons”.
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Recently speaking to CNN, Barcelona President Joan Laporta said, “When a player, and with all respect, prefers to go to Saudi Arabia, basically there are no sporting reasons. You know, there are other reasons that are the priority. And the football must be the priority – the sporting reasons must be the priority.” More than 10 star players have left Europe to join the Saudi Pro League this transfer window. More importantly, several of these players are still young and could have easily played a few more years in Europe.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract with Manchester United ended last year in November. The relationship between him and the club soured after he fell out of favour with the new coach Erik Ten Hag and he gave a controversial interview regarding that. After the World Cup 2022, he joined the SPL side Al Nassr on a world record fee. Even though, the Portuguese is 38 years old, being one of this generation’s greatests, he still had some years of good play left ahead of him.
Ronaldo still chose to move and following this shocking transfer, a floodgate opened. Saudi’s Public Investment Fund took control of SPL’s 4 biggest clubs – Al Nassr, Al Hilal, Al Ahli, and Al Ittihad. From then on, these SPL clubs and others that want to compete with them on an equal level have been presenting players and coaches lucrative deals to move to Saudi Arabia. Over 10 big names from Europe have already made the move. Steven Gerrard is the first and only coach to have joined a SPL side as their head coach this transfer window.
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Star players that joined SPL this summer –
- Karim Benzema – Al Ittihad – Free transfer
- Roberto Firmino – Al Ahli – Free transfer
- N’Golo Kante – Al Ittihad – Free transfer
- Alex Telles – Al Nassr – Free transfer
- Jordan Henderson – Al Ettifaq – £12 million
- Marcelo Brozovic – Al Nassr – £15.4 million
- Kalidou Koulibaly – Al Hilal – £15.7 million
- Edouard Mendy – Al Ahli – £16 million
- Sadio Mane – Al Nassr – £24 million
- Riyad Mahrez – Al Ahli – £30 million
- Ruben Neves – Al Hilal – £47.1 million
- Malcom – Al Hilal – £51.5 million
There is still a month to go before the summer transfer window closes. It seems that Saudi clubs are still approaching several players and coaches. When Lionel Messi left PSG, Al Hilal approached him with a deal worth more than £430 million. Reportedly, the same Al Hilal are now offering a deal worth more than £610 million to the current PSG star Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe turned down their offer, but it can’t be denied that their offers are extremely lucrative which can be difficult to say ‘no’ to for anyone.
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