Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 583. (Read 118990 times)

You brought very good stats that show big difference in strategies between Saudi Professional League and Chinese Super League. Clubs from those leagues aim at different quality players and surely Saudi Arabian clubs have bought higher quality players than Chinese clubs years ago.

Ronaldo and Benzema are enjoying their last years in career with Saudi Arabian clubs but they are still playing very good and even better than many young players. Mane and Neymar are younger and can play longer time in Saudi Arabia if those clubs are ready to extend contract with them after one or two seasons.

Those names are proofs that clubs Saudi Professional League are very united in their transfer strategies and they only want to buy star players who can help their league to grow in communication channels, television rights, attract European citizens to watch their league matches and to help increasing quality and experience of local players. They want to have a stronger league, better players for their national team in future.

Apart from him, there is Roger Ibanez who is ready to be at Al ahli, the transfer of the Arab League transfer this time really shocked the world, it was as if they wanted to move European football to Arabic.

what is also very interesting are the rumors about david de gea to al nassr, currently de gea is in free agent status and reportedly the deadline for the deal or not is mid-september, it seems that de gea will choose al nassr over bayern, the salary offer that will be given by al Nassr is very tempting especially there is a former teammate there when he was at MU.

Well news like this will continue to appear before the transfer window closes. I don't know if he made the right decision, currently he is 25 years old and chose to play in the Saudi League even though several European clubs such as Inter Milan were interested in him. We know salary is the main reason but when he chooses to move to the Saudi League then there is a possibility that his career potential will fade, we will understand if he is 30 years old and don't expect anything in his career but now he is 25 years old and still has potential and better career, moreover Inter and Juventus are also interested in him. I hope it's not a bad decision for his career and at least it's still in the spotlight.

Another thing that makes me wonder why Atalanta released this player for 20 million even though Atalanta spent 21 million when they brought him from Juventus last season meaning that Atalanta lost 1 million in this transfer process, it just doesn't make sense in business. unless he's a bad player always makes mistakes like Maguire in the Premier League then it is reasonable to release it under market price, I'm sure there must be some reason it's just that we don't know.

Now the force is becoming more and more intense and the big boys are still going to Saudi Arabia.
The most amazing part of it I was reasoning the other day is that all the Europe super stars of 2 to 3 seasons ago are all in the Saudi Arabia.
1. Ronaldo 5 times Balon d'or winner
2. Benzema 1 time Balon d'or winner
3. Mane Balon d'or runner up
4. Neymar Balon d'or 3rd place.
Something revolutional is happening and people are not taking it serious.

Since other teams in Saudi League are still trying to hire more superstar players, Al Ahli doesn't want to lose the race in this market and they are ready to hire Merih Demiral from Atalanta, this player is 25 years old and he plays in the center back. Atalanta accepted the offer from Al Ahli for 18m and Merih Demiral is going to play for three years in this team for a salary of 11m for each season which is a good amount of money for a player like Merih Demiral.
Merih Demiral is going to move to Saudi Arabia soon to do the medical tests and sign the contract with Al Hilal.

Yes and I also believe that they might not be interested in cooperating with the UEFA in the long-term. I read that wild cards were offered to clubs from the Saudi Professional League and maybe that is true and perhaps they would participate via those wild cards at first, but their long-term vision could be much bigger than just joining the UEFA Champions League via wild cards. But if that happened I also understand the UEFA because inclusion maybe their strategy to avoid a head to head confrontation with the SPL.

They have bagged Neymar and his very huge fanbase, more audience for the SPL. They have brought in many good players, their league will become more competitive. Even teams in the league that have not invested in buying players will be forced to consider it so that they will not be left behind.

The officials in Europe will not easily let it happen, I believe they will also make some changes and huge investments to their league to ensure that it does not fall out of people's interest. It will not be something easy for the Saudi's to achieve because it will difficult to imagine a time in the sport when people will fully support teams from the Saudi league and not support any other team in Europe.

If you're only thinking players are leaving Europe to the Saudi Arabia pro league just for money than you are in the dark age, it's crystal clear that the league is getting more attention daily, almost all the football medias are posting the happening in the league than any other leagues in the world, and players are becoming interesting in the project, every players wants to play in the Saudi Arabia pro league as it's stand. Negotiations are on going by the end of their Transfer window,they will bring in more players than we expected.

The conditions for players and the taxation policy are better than the European policy. Every players wants to play in a league suitable for their family and Pocket.

Moreover, today it became known according to media reports that the Saudi League is thinking about sending the league winner to the Champions League. I don't know how FIFA will feel about this idea, but if it happens, it will be great, the SPL will finally reach Europe, it will be a phenomenal event

Their goal is to turn the people's eyes to their country so that they will become like Europe. Also, Vision 2030 is a huge project and no one would have ever thought that they could just easily get those star players with their huge money. That's right since there is no competition in the Euro League anymore when these stars are already taken to play in Saudi Arabia, other players will also consider migrating to play there as well, and not only are their salaries huge but also I think the way they are being treated there is something they cannot find in their former team.

First of all, Ronaldo is not going to retire anytime soon. His contract with Al Nassr runs for multiple years. And secondly, the reason why the Saudis brough Ronaldo to their country is not just for participation in the Saudi Professional League. The primary reason is that they want Ronaldo to lead the Saudi bid to host the 2030 World Cup. There are also rumors that Ronaldo will accept the Saudi citizenship and settle down in that country, but at this point I am just treating these claims as unsubstantiated rumors without any substance.

The Chinese super league kill itself because the authorities contributed to the reason why the league became unattractive to foreign players. They passed law that didn't favor the foreign players but I don't think that'll happen to Saudi Pro league because here they actually loves football and value the foreign players joining the clubs not just because they'll help improve their league but they have genuine love for the superstars. One thing about the Saudis is that they're future planners so I won't be surprised if they already have plans in motion for when Ronaldo retires, the might offer him a coaching job and who will not want to play under Ronaldo. Or the give him a position that will make him still bee a face of the league. Ronaldo's influence is unmatchable and we can see it with players now wanting to come to Saudi Pro league.


Change is constant and one day Europe will fall and become unattractive to players as attention will be shifted to other league and just as Ronaldo said, the Saudi Pro league might just benefit from that shift of attention and become a top league to play in. They can also have their champion league  kind of competition that it'll be more valuable then champions league and everyone will want to play in the tournament because it'll also guarantee fame and wealth. Anybody that thinks Europe will remain dominate forever doesn't understand how power shifts over time. Assuming Messi and Mbappe joined Saudi Arabia league with the already force moving there then we would had understood how big the league is becoming.

everyone is free to speak with their own point of view, indeed RONALDO is the icon of world football who carries the flow of the world's eye. it could be that if RONALDO retires there will be a change in decline in the Arab league because many people like RONALDO when playing on the field. lucky the player now bought by the arab club with a fantastic salary, just waiting for retirement to happen enjoy big results

This is not a fair comparison. When foreign superstars were brought to the Chinese league, the intent was something different. The national association was hoping that local players will get an opportunity to play along with the best in the world, and as a result their quality would increase. But the program was shelved after a few months and therefore the aim was not achieved. What Saudis are aiming to achieve is different. They want Saudi Arabia to become the sporting hub of the world. So their plan is for the long-term.

It's funny that he's still talking about politics and promoting and/or supporting the aforementioned, because Saudi football clearly has better strengths without having to talk about politics and so on. Besides, it seems like Chinese football at that time didn't have a long sustainability to improve the quality of their football.

Thus, I think it is quite clearly different from the case in Saudi football today. Because after all, the star players here also get contracts with a long duration and also, European star players who play in the Saudi league are also very well protected to keep their lives good. Therefore, Saudi football will be better over time of course, without having to associate it about other things outside of football.

As far as I know football is not subject to Western (American) rules but is subject to FIFA rules. In 2026 the world cup will be held on the American continent, what if our situation is reversed? Other countries outside the Americas blame them for the same issue, namely LGBT freedom and the democracy of their government. Where not all countries like and agree with them, will it have an effect in the long term too?

Football is indeed a tool and a political agenda, but its implementation will not be subject to regulations from any country.

I too have worries like you. Imo, what's happening now is that LPS is getting subsidies from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia through PIF and that's only for four clubs, instead of investing in the league, they only strengthen certain clubs. This includes an instant process that costs a lot of money and targets are uneven. The new problem is that if the subsidy is stopped and investment is reduced because football fans are getting bored, the impact will be the same as the Chinese League, its popularity will increase for 2-3 years, after that it will decrease drastically. This also happened to PSG, they began to enter a saturation period and no longer recruited superstar players with high salaries.

We all know that building a League like the European League takes decades to become what it is today, the key lies in the consistency and financial independence of the clubs participating in the league. I'm sorry to say that the top four Saudi clubs are not yet financially independent to do all this, if you want a transfer you have to first report to the PIF (aka begging). This doesn't include other clubs that don't get investment money, they can only surrender.

Many criticisms have come from various quarters regarding the decision of Saudi Arabian clubs to bring in European players at quite fantastic prices and several well-known coaches have also said that the Saudi Arabian League has begun to build the league's reputation to become a football rival in the world. This will affect some European leagues because some players can be influenced by money when they decide to play there and for some people this kind of speculation looks so exaggerated and as if all players are equal with the accusations.

No one knows what the wealthy businessmen expect there and even though many people think this is a business. But if you talk about the positive side this will have a good impact on the continuity of local football in Saudi Arabia and they can exchange players to train in Europe because the interest in Saudi Arabian football players is getting higher with the birth of competitive competition in the league.

They had a strategy for this, and it worked so well that many eyes were on them. The first step they took was to buy one of the world's best stars, CR7. His arrival was indeed the center of attention, especially at that time Cristiano Ronaldo was in a serious discussion period and became a trending topic for his problems with Manchester United. One player alone makes them more popular than ever, especially this by bringing in several more players, who also have star player labels in Europe.

Not just Europe, the SPL is now more widely followed.

Do we care about that? Not really, we will never discuss football until it is linked to politics, the Saudi team has a lot of money of course they can change everything.

That means in the Arab League we'll see it become competitive again a lot of contenders are becoming tight with some European players we'll enjoy those games and we'll never leave other European games, as long as there are interesting games in many languages I'll keep watching.