Vanguard News
July 5, 2023
The scenes we are witnessing at the transfer front in the past few weeks is what we didn’t envisage coming. For most football fans in Europe especially, given the complexity of the competition in the top 5 leagues, the influx of European top players into the Saudi Arabian league could have been a cold day in July. The truth is that what we are confronted with at this summer’s transfer window might come to stay till forever.
Barely was the 2022/23 campaign over when media outlets started publishing Saudi-Arabian interests in European top players. This league started caressing the minds of players to make them sign for their clubs, dangling mouthwatering salaries and add-ons. This idea of tabling huge amounts for players who have conquered everything conquerable and almost nearing the end the climax of their careers is similar to the Chinese strategy a couple of years ago. However, there is a tendency that the Saudi Arabian league will keep basking in the affluence of seductive player-buying.
It was not only Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia that opened a gateway of players who will be plying their trade in the oil-rich nation in the Asian continent. A number of top players such as David Ospina, Pity Martinez, Ever Banega had all joined the league way back. The Portugese superstar completed the move with a record-breaking fee of $200 million annually to Al-Nassr having agreed to part ways with Manchester United.
Then came the summer window and players such as Karim Benzema, Ngolo Kante, Eduardo Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly signed for Al Ittihad, Al Ahliy and Al Hilah respectively. The league also tried to get Lionel Messi from Paris Saint German but the Argentinian opted for US Inter Miami. All of these players are way past the zenith of their careers but it was interesting to see 26-year-old Ruben Neves join Al-Hilal for a fee of 55m euros. Whatever eyebrows being raised as to how the Arabian league snapped the Manchester United and Barcelona-linked man points to a lot of things – monopoly being one of them.
Football is becoming a singular entity in Asia. In the latest edition of the World Cup, Asian fans came all out in solidarity of celebrating football. They swarmed the streets after they defeated star-studded Argentina, coming behind from a goal. Even Mexico had to play their souls out to defeat Saudi Arabia in the last round of the group stage matches. The win versus Argentina was so big that they felt it was needed to build the league bigger and satisfy the citizens’ love for sporting activities. After Saudi and Qatar eventually crashed out of the competition, these fans rallied their support round the Moroccan camp, which went ahead to reach the competition’s semis, due to the latter’s Islamic affinity with the continent.
A further close look into the nation’s quest for monopoly is investment. Crude oil has been the major source of income for the nation but they are now on the verge of diversifying that narrative. In fact, the nation has chosen to privatize four powerhouse clubs namely Al Nassr, Al Itihad, Al Hilal and Al-Ahly via a Public Investment Funds (PFI) which is the nation’s significant and independent wealth tank. The same strategy was used to facilitate Newcastle United who are thriving in the transfer market having made signings of Alexandre Isak, Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali in recent times. The team even finished third on the table, their best-ever finish in the English top-flight.
Interestingly, the strict restriction by UEFA on European clubs from limitless salaries and wages caps isn’t applicable to the leagues in the Middle East – Saudi Arabia being a part. This is one major reason a number of clubs such as Barcelona, AC Milan, Juventus and most recently Chelsea are greatly maximizing Saudi Arabia’s romance to balance their account books. Thus, Saudi Arabia does not have a cap to the amount they bring to the table for the services of players. One reason why players like Ruben Neves will be earning a triple of what he earned at Wolves.
English pundit, James Carragher feels the nation are trying to sportwash the globe. This was after the league tried to lure Bernardo Silva from treble-winning Manchester City. James Carragher relates this monopoly to what the nation has achieved in its project by further extending her arm of sportsmanship into sports like F1 Race and Golf, the former being a large project of Aramco, Saudi’s largest oil company. Gary Neville feels the same way and that an embargo needs to be placed on the league from buying Premier league players to allow for a proper investigation on how they acquire funds to attract players.
Either ways, it is high time the world admitted that Saudi’s zest to shoot up their Pro league is very real. Whether they will join the comity of top leagues like the English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A or the Bundesliga, only time will tell.
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