Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 585. (Read 118990 times)

When they started the spending spree to bring some of the finest European based footballers to the Saudi Arabian League earlier this summer and that was after signing 5-time Balon D'or winner Cristiano Ronaldo in the January transfer window to the , many had argued that they just wanted to publicise the league but that is not close to what they want.
 The Saudi League with the numerous formerly European based stars in the league at the moment has brought immense quality to the league and that will be practically demonstrated when the league kicks off

Since these European superstars joined the Saudi clubs, the Saudi clubs have become quite strong. When Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr, many people said a lot of slanderous things, but now more powerful stars are gathering in Saudi clubs after receiving such a huge offer. I can say that if strong emerging stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Neymar stay in these normal clubs, the next players will definitely be made much stronger. Saudi club players can learn a lot from these superstars in many ways because their playing styles will surely teach the next players and fellow players.

Seeing the competition of the Saudi league teams in bringing in football stars is worth following and with this you can be sure to make the Saudi league more popular and passionate for all the public who want to witness the excitement in every match. Al-Nassr has Ronaldo, Al-Ittihad has Benzema, and Al-Hilal has Neymar, you can say these 3 teams will dominate the Saudi league in the next few seasons. Competition will continue to be created as long as there are talented players or other European star players in the team and that is what the Saudi league needs at this time if it wants to continue to be seen by the wider community around the world. I think what they've invested will be quite impactful in the next 2 years.

Almost most of the top european players who play in the saudi pro league are aged 30+, although there are some players under the age of 30. it's just that, the fact is that it is the players aged 30+ who have the big names. for example, as you have said in this post. So, if there is an idea that European football will fade away, it is an exaggeration and a completely baseless assumption. well, previously we have seen that China has also done a mega project with its super league. Unfortunately, this league is not very marketable, which eventually fades away.

Now, the Saudis are doing almost the same project. the difference is, the Saudis are carrying out this mega project which was initiated by the PIF company and the Saudi kingdom itself, PIF is one of the companies shaded by Mohammed bid Salman as well as the prince of Saudi Arabia. we know very well, that they have very abundant finances. now, the Saudis are in a project that they claim to develop sports on Saudi soil and one of them is football. also, they have ambitions to host the 2030 world cup later.
but on the other hand, I also heard some rumors that they are trying to offer to sell broadcasting rights for this league. Unfortunately, it seems that it is not very popular in international markets, let alone Europe.

Even so, IMO, if they have a project that goes further than what we discuss in this thread. the point is, what is planned by PIF is a long project that covers the business sector even though the entrance is through football. I agree and am interested in what you said, football is part of culture, colors, stories, and although not all of these features are available in Saudi Arabia, and even Arab culture is not compatible with football. but that does not mean, they can follow the hype of the world of football. After all, their goal is not just for football. but more than that, in essence the Saudis are planning a mega project for the betterment of their nation and country. So far, the Saudis have succeeded in getting all the world's attention on them.

I believe the "trend" will be this!
After the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, I believe it "opened the eyes" of the Arabs and they realized that football could be an interesting, lucrative sport and even entertainment for them to bring to their countries.

I have no doubts, Europe is home to the best teams in the world and that is undeniable, but I am sure that these signings that some arabian teams have made are directing attention there and around the world, and I believe... soon more signings of excellent and notable players will happen for the Saudi Arabian clubs

Marco Verratti has asked Neymar and five other players to find new destinations as Luis Enrique does not have Neymar and Marco Verratti in his plans, which is why PSG decided to let them leave the club. 

Al Hilal wanted to sign Marco Verratti along with Neymar. Al Hilal had planned to replace Neymar with Marco Verratti from PSG if their contract with Neymar was not completed but they succeeded in signing Neymar so maybe Marco Verratti's contract with PSG will remain for now. Saudi club Al Hilal can sign Marco Verratti if Neymar wants to because Marco Verratti had a good understanding with Neymar at PSG.

Tomorrow Damac vs Al-Riyadh in Saudi Professional League these two teams will come to the field to play. Al-Riyadh is at number 7 in the points table between the two teams. Damac is now at number 13 in the points table. So it is thought that Al-Riyadh is better in this match will play. Al-Riyadh team won 3 out of last 5 matches and lost 1 match and drew 1 match. On the other hand Damac won 1 match out of last 5 matches and lost 3 matches and drew 1 match.I hope Al-Riyadh team will win this match.

But it is possible that other investors will come to the Saudi League and take over one of the teams like Al Ettifaq they are not part of the Public Investment Fund but they managed to bring in Europe coach and players we don't know where their funding sources came from what is clear is that they do the same thing as the other 4 teams and who knows other teams will get an investor in the following season whether it is from outside or from inside the Saudi.

In my country right now, more and more are selling and wearing jersey from Arab league clubs. Which indicates that the SPL is indeed increasingly popular at this time.

Well, about Steven Gerrard, I am also quite happy to see his success in bringing the team he coached to get their first win in the SPL. And what I think about Al-Ettifaq is that this club under Steven Gerrard will definitely be a club that reminds me of Liverpool. Steven Gerrard is a former captain at Liverpool and currently he is a coach at Al-Ettifaq and coincidentally the position of captain at Al-Ettifaq is now held by Jordan Henderson who is also a former Liverpool captain. So that in al-Ettifaq there are two former Liverpool captains. Well this is a pretty funny coincidence.

@BRINIRHA I agree with your assessment that this league is getting more competitive and in coming year’s it wouldn’t surprise me if it surpassed the popularity of premier league or the La Liga too. Furthermore Mane did well on his debut by scoring a goal for his team but he was let down by the goal keeper’s errors and I’m also happy to see that Gerrard got a win on his debut as the new manager of Al Ettifaq.

It seems that Al-Hilal is indeed the most aggressive in the current transfer market. I imagine if Al-Hilal's 11 core players would later be the majority of Europe's top players, it would be very interesting. last season I missed a lot of matches played by Al-Hilal. Because my focus last season was only on Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr. But now it seems I have to focus on the 5 clubs that bought the most European players in the current transfer market, namely Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Dan Al-Ettifaq. I think this SPL season will not be boring. But seeing Al-Nassr lose points in the first game in my opinion is something that is very regrettable. Because like it or not, Al-Nassr has to be 3 points behind from the clubs that managed to win in the first match of the SPL. Sadio Mane played well. But without the support of other great players on the front lines, it still makes him overwhelmed.

My concern is regarding the imbalance between different teams in the Saudi Professional League. The four teams that are supported by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (Al Nassr, Al Ahli, Al Hilal and Al-Ittihad) can hire anyone they want, while the remaining 12 teams are forced to rely on local Saudi Arabian players. And this results in serious imbalance when the clubs play against each other. Most of the matches will be one sided. Some investment also needs to be given to the other clubs, so they can remain competitive.  

SPL will become one of the most distinguished leagues in football; it's only a matter of time before everything falls into place. I'm expecting great things from these clubs that are active in the transfer market and bringing in big stars. In terms of signing European players, Al Nassr and Al Hilal are the frontrunners. This season, they are the dominant rivals, with an extensive amount of match action to be witnessed from both clubs. The Saudi pro league is all about signing good players; they have the required options and are ready to make things happen. This season, the league is becoming more popular.

Merih Demiral has officially to joined Al Ahli and it says he has agree moved from Atalanta with 20 millions transfer fee and Al Ahli giving Demiral 3 years contract duration and for the salary he will earn 11 millions per year
However Demiral was inlcuding into Atalanta sell lists because previously he has bad relationship with Gian Piero Gasperini so that's why Demiral will not into Gasperini plan for this season and before this transfer happened Demiral was linked to several Serie A teams such as Inter Milan and Juventus even Inter Milan has bid for him but indeed Inter has refuse to pay according to his release clause so that's why this transfer didn't happend

What makes European clubs feel a little disturbed is how the money arab clubs have is enough to affect the transfer market, you can see how the big clubs in Europe have to spend huge amounts of money when they want to buy a player even when the player has not shown any achievements just because the club feels they have the potential to become stars but the price is unreasonable, especially clubs in Europe must comply with Financial Fair Play rules so no matter how much money they have they cannot use it carelessly, it's different from the Saudi Pro League that's why you see how Al Hilal offering an outrageous price for just one season for a Mbappe.
But I think this is only temporary and slowly they will stop all this wasteful activity, and the players they buy are dominated by players who are likely to only be able to play for a few seasons, no more than 5 seasons, in my opinion not because of a short contract but because the age of the player is no longer likely to display impressive results in the long term as it is now entering old age.

The league itself is their secondary concern. Their preliminary aim is to host the FIFA World Cup in 2030. Their ego was hurt, after arch rivals Qatar managed to host the tournament before them and used that opportunity to showoff petrodollar wealth. One of the reasons why they are splurging money to purchase all these star players is that they can use at least some of them during the bidding process. It is confirmed that Ronaldo will be leading their 2030 hosting bid, but it needs to be seen which of the other players will join.

The way the Saudi Pro League is contacting players from the biggest football clubs in the world, the SPL will soon become one of the top most favorite football clubs. The SPL has already bought many players from popular clubs including Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane, Neymar Jr., Malcom, Mitrovic, Bono, Verratti and many more. If such popular players of Saudi Pro League are bought at a high price rate, then the popularity of other popular football clubs will decrease day by day, and on the other hand, the followers and popularity of Saudi Pro League are increasing day by day, which has become a matter of concern for LALIGA, EPL, Italian clubs.

I don't think Verratti is the only player they're in search of, Al-Hilal are on the verge of creating a very tougher team that would challenge their arch rival Al-Nassr so they're still in search of possible European footballers that would strengthen their team and they solely depend on their financial strength to help convince this players to join their team since the league is not affected by any financial fair play rules.
 According to the news Al-Hilal have regenerated their Interest of signing the fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and they've started another negotiations with a new offer for the player, and it is said that they're planning on getting the deal done this week and make Mitrovic their top striker, if they succeed in getting Mitrovic it's going to create a very strong attacking force for them and their only hope would be the player convinced by the offer or Fulham willing to let go of their top 9

They can sign Veratti as well as any other player. There is a big power in Saudi Arabian teams right now: money. They may overpay the salary. FIFA can't do anything against their power. Since they do not have any financial problems, they transfer every player. The next player could be Veratti.

This is not going to be surprising for me at all when I see Saudi teams and especially the famous Saudi teams like Al Nasr and Al Hilal buying even more famous players in Europe because the Saudis are still trying to make their league better than this and in the race between the top teams in this Arabian league, they can't get back and stop negotiation with the European teams to hire more players.