When Al Nassr announced the signing of Manchester United icon Cristiano Ronaldo on New Year’s Eve, few would have expected the influx that followed in Saudi Arabia.
Ronaldo is still a football royalty and his stellar prestige may only be eclipsed by Lionel Messi, but the Portuguese was not a wanted guy at the time. Seven months later, the Saudi Pro League is the most discussed topic in the summer movement window.
The £500m spending on new signings is only matched through Europe’s three most sensible leagues, and the biggest spenders, Al Hilal, is matched only through Arsenal in terms of spending on newcomers.
But who are the clubs that sign those signings, who are all the names that have joined the new hotbed of multimillion-dollar contracts and where does this unprecedented spending point take them for the new season?
This €500 million spending frenzy is led by Newcastle United’s Public Investment Funds (PIF), which have acquired a 75% stake in Saudi Arabia’s four most sensible clubs; Al Hilal, Al Nassr, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad. Between them, those 4 clubs have won nine of the last ten league titles.
Then there’s Al Ettifaq, which is in the process of being bought through another state-backed organization, SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Company), and which also spent heavily this summer.
Al Ittihad, as the defending champions, qualified to play in the FIFA Club World Cup in Jeddah in December.
Thus, the PIF rushed to help its ranks with Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema, midfielder N’Golo Kante’s pivot, Liverpool presenter Fabinho and Celtic winger Jota. That group of stars will be coached through the former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur manager. Nuno Espirito Santo, who led the club to get that name last season.
Although Al Hilal reached the final of the last Club World Cup in Morocco, losing to Real Madrid 5-3, it would only be enough for Al Ittihad to win this name in front of their noisy and difficult fans. For Al Hilal, a season that would be considered a great luck for most clubs in the world, considered a complete failure.
They finished third in the league, reached the AFC Champions League final and won the silver medal at the FIFA Club World Cup, but Al Hilal are the most successful club team in Asia; They have four Champions League titles and have reached the final of the continental festival five times since 2014.
It is in this context that we will have to perceive his £152 million frenzy against Wolves captain Ruben Neves, Lazio’s Sergei Milinkovic-Savic, Chelsea’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Zenit St. Petersburg’s Malcom. They are on the hunt for a striker and a winger. Osimhen, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Bernardo Silva or Neymar and Kylian Mbappé have been approached in recent weeks.
Al Nassr believes they could win the league after acquiring Ronaldo, but even the Portuguese’s 14 goals in a season might not save them from finishing three times with Al Ittihad.
Enter Marcelo Brozovic and Seko Fofana to reshuffle their central midfielder, Sadio Mané to share the attacking load with the aging Ronaldo and Alex Telles to deliver the crosses of his former Manchester United teammate.
Al Ahli, champions in 2015-16, had an incredibly poor crusade a few seasons ago that led to their first relegation. It recovered from the first request and is tasked with recovering its classic as a national power.
Their names fulfill this mission: Edouard Mendy, the world’s most productive goalkeeper in 2021, Roma’s Roger Ibanez and former Leeds United full-back Ezgjan Alioski in defence, Barcelona’s Franck Kessie in midfield and the attractive trio of Riyad Mahrez. Roberto Firmino and Allan Saint-Maximin in attack. Not bad for a team that has just competed in the second division.
The losers are Steven Gerrard. Se’s Al Ettifaq is one of the country’s great calibres, but a historic club that won the league title in 1983-84 without losing before slipping to the middle of the table at the turn of the century, then relegation and a few seasons away from the spotlight.
This season they will be controlled by Jordan Hfinisherson, with former Celtic players Jack Hfinishry and Moussa Dembele at both ends of the pitch.
A name challenge may be a step too far, but breaking into the top four will be a huge achievement for the two former Liverpool captains.
Given that neighboring Qatar already hosted the World Cup in 2022, building one of the world’s most productive leagues has Saudi Arabia’s main football goal as part of its National Vision 2030 to reshape the country and they spare no expense to achieve it.
But it remains to be seen whether five years from now the Saudi experiment will be good luck or whether it will follow the same path as the Chinese experiment of a few years ago.
Buying big, albeit aged, players is a smart position to start with, as MLS has shown in the past, but if the Saudi Pro League needs to remain applicable a decade later, you’ll want to invest in sustainability in other areas, adding infrastructure. , base and league marketing, to name a few.