The Saudi Pro League continues to attract some stellar talent and, with just one week to go before the big Premier League kick off, a couple of high profile stars have joined the trail to Saudi. And a former Liverpool man has also backed his bags for the Middle East.
Possibly the biggest Saudi Pro League 2023 news of the summer so far broke last week with the announcement that Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez is heading to Al-Ahli.
Talks have been ongoing for some time and a €35 million deal with another €5 million in add-ons has been agreed for the treble-winning star. He missed out on City’s pre-season tour and has now signed a four-year deal with Al-Ahli.
Mahrez was a key player in the Sky Blues’ historical campaign, winning the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the Champions League and, in Pep Guardiola’s rotational system he scored 43 goals in 145 games.
He made his name in the English game when he starred in Leicester City’s 2016 Premier League winning side and is now one of the most recognisable faces in UK sport.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United are saying goodbye to a talismanic figure as livewire winger Allan Saint-Maximin has completed his switch from the North East of England giants to Al-Ahli to join Mahrez.
To have these players on either flank will be a sight to behold and will give opposition full-backs nightmares. Saint-Maximin has moved for a fee of around €30 million and has signed a three-year deal. Like Mahrez, he missed out on the Magpies pre-season tour, so the writing was on the wall.
He’ll be missed by the Geordie fans who watched him sparkle in a side which struggled for goals before the influx of money from their new Saudi owners, and now the 26-year-old is ready to dazzle in a new arena.
He scored 13 goals in 124 games since joining from Nice in 2019, and he will be a crowd puller in Saudi.
The Saudi Pro League 2023 betting odds have taken a shift towards Al-Ahli.
And another former Premier League player has joined the Saudi Pro League as ex-Liverpool star Sadio Mane has joined Al-Nassr, the club who started off the flow of big name players when they attracted Cristiano Ronaldo last January.
The Senegalese striker arrived at FC Bayern last summer with great expectations, but he had a campaign to forget. He struggled to replicate the form which thrilled Anfield fans as part of a front three containing Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, another Saudi Pro League attraction.
And his relationship with the Bundesliga champions was pretty much ended when he had a dressing room fight with Leroy Sane after a Champions League defeat to Manchester City. Mane was suspended and fined by the Bavarian club, and there will be few tears shed in Munich this week.
Southgate stands by Henderson
Here at SBOTOP, we took a close interest in Jordan Henderson’s move from Liverpool to Al-Ettifaq to join his old teammate Steven Gerrard, who is now managing that club.
But the fallout continues in the UK where the England star was held up as a leading influencer in the world of diversity and inclusion, taking the knee and wearing rainbow armbands.
So not everybody is happy that Hendo decided to move to Saudi when the megabucks were offered.
While the Saudi Pro League is nowhere near the standard of the European Leagues, the growing number of famous players arriving in Saudi is making it a more attractive prospect by the day, and the riches on offer will be hard for some players to resist.
England manager Gareth Southgate has entered the discussion in the UK, saying he would be stupid to stop picking Henderson because of his £12 million move to Al-Ettifaq.
“Why would we rule any player out based on where they are playing?” asked the England boss. “That would be stupid. We need to see how they are playing and how they are physically. We don’t actually know the level of this league until we see the games.”
Women’s rights groups and LGBT campaigners in England won’t necessarily agree that the England manager has his priorities right, but there is little they can do to stop the outflow of talent.
And Premier League clubs are trying to protect their assets. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has already lost two players and Pep Guardiola has, of course, lost Mahrez. Both managers have expressed concerns that the Saudi transfer window is open for a week after the Premier League starts, and that might see some clubs losing players that they can’t replace until midway through their domestic campaign.
The lure of Saudi football is a hot topic in Europe and feelings are running high, and it’s a story which will continue to develop over the coming weeks.
Who will be next?
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