Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 672. (Read 118669 times)

I doubt if luring experienced players with money to the Saudi League will bring the needed development to the Saudi League. My assumption is based on two countries that have adopted the same strategy in time last. The US Major League Soccer and the Chinese Super League attracted so many players to give their league the needed attraction but this pattern failed. Most of these experienced players moved to these leagues, made money, and retired. While younger players spent a few years and returned to Europe. Except the Saudi league management has another strategy to retain and attract more players, the league might also suffer the same end as others that invested heavily. The cultural and religious society of Saudi Arabia will also be a barrier. It is not a free society and many young players will not find it convenient. I have also observed that Muslim players are more attracted to the league because the society suits their way of life.


The club needs to consult Ronaldo before getting a new coach. Ronaldo has always had issues with coaches and this happened in Manchester United and Al-Nassr. He was instrumental in the sack of Rudi Garcia. The Portuguese was always criticizing the coach and expressed his disdain for his coaching style. So he should be allowed to make inputs in the process of coach selection so that he would not complain about the coach. Signing Ronaldo is a lot of responsibility and I hope he has a good relationship with the new signings.

It's all too easy to label the Saudi league as the final hurrah for aging pros seeking one last payday. But let's reconsider! With the potential switch of Bernardo Silva, a key player in his golden years, to the Saudi Arabian League, we might need to reassess. Could the league be changing its tack to lure in younger, elite-level players? While the future is notoriously tricky to foretell, it's vital to stay alert to possible strategy overhauls that could reformat the league.

I am quite behind with this news and I thought that yesterday Hakim Ziyech would officially become an Al-Nassr player along with Ronaldo and Brozovic. It looks like Hakim Ziyech's fate to leave Chelsea has failed again and this is the second time that Hakim Ziyech has failed. We know that last winter Hakim Ziyech was close to an agreement with PSG, but failed because there was a problem with the documents so he had to stay at Chelsea and now when he has the opportunity to leave Chelsea while making a lot of money with Al-Nassr it is happening again because he failed the medical test. I think Hakim Ziyech has to be stronger in dealing with this problem and he has to accept the fact that he will be a bench warmer for Chelsea next season.

Al-Nassr have already brought in several quality players for huge sums of money. They are a successful team in signing players. A good coach is definitely needed to guide good quality players. Maybe they have shortlisted experienced coaching staff from different countries to hire a quality coach. However, the coach they are eyeing in Brazil is an experienced coach. But since Al-Nassr club has players like Ronaldo, I think they need a good European quality coach.  Because in order to guide Ronaldo, the person must know more than Ronaldo, in that case Al-Nassr may be a good choice for the coach of the big teams in Europe.

The main reason is the problem of the knee, based on medical records this is not the first time he has experienced it since the 2020/2021 season, injury problems continue to come almost every season until now. Until now there is no clarity related to the transfer to Al Nassr or there is a possibility of being canceled.

Another hot news is Marcelo Brozovic, after being reportedly the two parties agreed with a salary of 25 million per season or 100 million for 3 seasons and Inter will get 23 million but lately Al Nassr changed the agreement with only willing to pay 13m + 2m bonuses, Inter rejected this new agreement and stop the transfer process. Until now there has been no latest news about Brozovic Transfer.

From the start of this Saudi Arabian League signing spree of European veterans players , I know a day would come when they'll not just be luring the players that are 30+ but also very young players who still got a lot to achieve in their career.
The Saudi Arabian League wants to be enjoy the same limelight that European leagues are enjoying from all over the world and would definitely do anything within their reach to achieve that aim

What its the medical issue with Ziyec? Its his second failure in a medical procedure, the last one was in PSG transfer.

Its gonna see funny to see so much good names in this league, i hope some other leagues having also good players so we can see some good asia champions cup.

There were the rumors that they are now going after younger superstars as well. I can't remember who gave the interview but it was about Bernardo Silva and that it is possible that he will leave Manchester City and go to Saudi Arabia and he is 28 years old now. That would already mean a paradigm shift because so far the complaints are limited as it is mostly those old players who are going to retire soon or are prone to physical issues from time to time, but a superstar like Silva would send a strong signal to many other players as well from the perspective of the Saudi Professional League. I think there are many potential transfers in the making and it is not only about the old players.

They continue to fill their league with players from Europe who are almost retired or close to it, that much is obvious. They are trying to attract attention to the league, to lure in as many players as possible, but they only succeed in luring in the old ones who are going after the money. I will never tire of repeating that this is a stupid strategy, because young and promising players will never choose this league for the money, because it's much more comfortable and promising to play in Europe in the first place. The Saudi league is just a bag of money

What I noticed about most of those player’s is that they are trying to make all those clubs in Saudi league a retirement place, since the league is not that competitive and they are being paid huge amount of money, so they prefer going and be relaxing and they will be receiving huge amount of money. But players joining the league are going to be ending their career their since their is no much attention on the league, most people don’t know about the League, so people don’t watch their matches, but with the players which clubs in Saudi league are signing now, they are trying to get public attention which am sure they will be getting it soon, they are really spending money on players.

Rejection decisions aren't made lightly. If this was an injury that could be cured conservatively without surgery, he would probably still get a contract. But if they found severe damages in the knee joint, even when he gets surgery the probability is very high that he won't get fully back in shape. Since they are already paying these insane salaries, the last thing you want as a Saudi club is a player who then cannot even play to his full abilities.

Al Hilal, is a top-flight club that has always dominated the Saudi Pro League competition before this club was acquired by PIF. in the 2022/2023 season, Al Hilal experienced a decline in performance after they dominated the trophy for three consecutive seasons.

I don't know what caused their decline, it could be because they have a very busy schedule. or maybe it could be because other clubs are experiencing increased performance such as Al ittihad, Al Shabab and Al Nassr who are coming Ronaldo. but in the end, Al Ittihad was able to break Al Hilal's dominance. after the competition, Al Hilal tried to bring Messi to Saudi with the highest salary offer and even beat Ronaldo's salary. Unfortunately, Messi prefers MLS to joining other top European players in this competition. even so, it doesn't matter if in the end Messi rejects Al Hilal's offer even for Lukaku. after all, they can bring in other players who are no less great than Lukaku. it's just that, we don't know which players they will be targeting instead.

Speaking of Mourinho, I'm not really sure if he would be willing to coach any club in the Saudi league. Likewise with Al Hilal, who actually doesn't match the style and philosophy of the game that the club stretches. Even if Al Hilal doesn't bring in Europe's top players, they still have players whose capacity is not inferior to other teams. the difference is, they don't have top european stars. yes, at least for now. but one thing for sure, I believe they are drafting a proposal to target some other names instead. so, let's just follow every development.

Seems like Ziyech has a knee problem but I am not sure what it is. If it is a big big deal that he can't play and needs like some surgery or something that will sideline him for a long period then this was a smart decision, if it was a constant thing where he can play but it's bothering him all the time type of injury then it makes sense as well.

Only possible scenario where it doesn't make sense would be a small thing where he will be back to playing with 100% in a few months before the season starts, then they should have gotten him. I kept saying that Ziyech was not the type of player they should be getting even at the early days, sad to learn he is injured, but glad that they didn't spend this much money on him at least.

Apparently it is the same problem that has been identified by PSG in the winter transfer window but it was announced to be an administrative issue. Hakim Ziyech has a problem in his knee and that's why Al Nasr rejected him.
Well Chelsea won't get money from him for the second time after all and he will remain with the blues for another two years unless he finds a way with a loan in lower league or club.

Just want to correct your posts above, Marcelo Brozović did not receive €100m per season but for 3 seasons so €100m is accumulation for 3 years I found this information from several sources. Yeah reportedly more than 10 players are still on the offer some of them have refused while others have not reached an agreement, the transfer window is still available for the next 30 days so I'm sure at least 3-5 more players will come to Saudi Professional League. By the way besides star players, recruitment also leads to the top coach/manager like Al Nassr who has got a new coach.

As long as saudi will always put lots of money to the SPL and it can sustain for long run. The problem is now if saudi will have very big expenses caused by it must be paying a lot of players with huge salary at the same time.
Saudi was also keep hunt more and more players. Once saudi will be owe the salary from its players and its reputation can go down instantly.
Money is the only thing that can be offered by saudi arabia to the european players. It seems like this trend gonna continue till world cup 2030. Saudi is putting it as the main target to be reached by the country.
I will not be surprised to see more players come as soon as possible to the saudi pro league.

I was talking to a friend of mine about how many star players went to the Arab league this season. I told him there were so many transfers and he couldn't believe it. We see that there are still new star transfers.
Brozovic is going to Al Nassr and will be teammate with Ronaldo. 23 million Euro will be given for this transfer. Brozovic will earn a total of 100 million Euro. Maybe he didn't earn this money during his whole career, but now he will get it from the Arabs in 3 years.
Firmino signed with Al Ahli. Now which clubs do you think went ahead for the championship? I don't know what quality the Arab players are, but can we make an inference from foreign player transfers? Or is the quality of Arab players also very important?

That's unfortunate. It looks like that he is fated to remain with Chelsea forever. Hakim Ziyech needs to complete what he started at the club. Hakim Ziyech gone nowhere. Let's look at the bright side, maybe this could an opportunity and he will revive his career under Pochettino's guidance and regain his top-level performance.

It is not every day you going to hear that players fail in a medical test, for me this is really the first time I'm hearing it and It is very unfortunate that Hakim is the first player who have heard that failed a medical and was refused a move because of his health condition to a club that would have made him more richer. This would have been the most lucrative career decision of his life, but it is not going to happen and his value will even further drop more. In my place, there is what we describe as being affected by "village people", that is when something very good meant to change your life better that is supposed to come your way and is expected, just fails and is cut short for unpredictable reasons.  This is just what has happened to Hakim Ziyech.

I can only imagine how many tv station will show this league games next season,  Europe league is becoming empty, players are now considering the Saudi Arabia league than some clubs in Europe. by the end of the transfers season would know how many will join the Saudi Arabia league. its true money can solve any problem. see how money has transformed the Saudi Arabia league to top league. Ronaldo contributed for this growth too, many are coming because he is there and the world is giving so much attention to the league.

Marcelo Brozovic has made the right choice to join the Saudi Arabia pro league, he will be playing with Ronaldo after turning down Barcelona bid to Al nassr.