Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 771. (Read 132679 times)

Of course it is a totally different game in terms of Ronaldo getting assists from other players and in general. I think when you play in the Bernabeu your motivation is sky high and the energy and passion in your head and body is exploding. I have no issues with soccer in Saudi Arabia, but my personal opinion is when you played for the best clubs in the world in front of the craziest fans in the most important games in the world, it must feel like a drug for a superstar. When you then go to the SPL and there isn't really anything on the line for you as a sportsman because you are done with your career, it must feel like a drug addict is going back from injecting heroin to drinking coffee. Psychologically I can even understand when the inner fire decreases because you can't imitate the Bernabeu home clasico against Barcelona in the SPL.


Yes that could shed some more light on how Ronaldo will perform when he plays a whole season from the beginning till the end. And I agree with you that he is still a good striker and will probably even be for another 10 years. In theory I am sure he could even score a few La Liga goals when he is 45 as he knows how it works and given how healthy he is he will even be fast enough to do that. This was just in theory, I guess he won't be playing anymore at 45

I knew that too. Even al ahli's president was going to the london to discuss mahrez's transfer but i think that mahrez may not interest to join in al ahli. He has a great season with manchester city. It's unlikely mahrez will accept offer from al ahli.
Jose mourinho has been also getting an offer from al ahli but he was rejecting al ahli's offer and stay even longer in the as roma.
The player needs to see the track record from the club first.


That's why people shall not generalize if whole of clubs in SPL were rich clubs. It's to make sure that if those professional players who will be going to the SPL will not be trapped. Any league has its dark side.
I think that's also happening in european leagues too.

Th amount of money being splashed by these Arabs doesn't make any sense. I understand that Lionel Messi is one of the best in the world. But an offer of $1.2 billion for two years sounds illogical for me. When they are spending so much money, ROI is not a concern for them. In all probability they are not going to earn even half of that amount from SPL. The real aim is to improve the reputation of the country, so that they stand a chance to win the bid to host FIFA World Cup in 2030. And I have to say that Saudi Arabia is moving in the right direction as of now.

It's better if you are watching this https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MsquSMrYA8E

It's clear what has become the main reason why benzema was accepting the offer from ittihad. He said that if religion was also his reason to leave from real madrid.

I think that it makes everything clear about what has become the main reasons for benzema to leave from real madrid and move to the ittihad. It's better if you are watching it first.

I'm a Ronaldo fan boy but Messi career decisions you have to admire, do you think he didn't get offers from other clubs while he was at Barcelona. Severally we heard rumour but none of them happened and that's because Messi was loyal to Barcelona. Also hope you know Spain tried severally for Messi to represent them instead of Argentina and Messi could have played for Spain and won the world cup more earlier than he did. Spain had all the super players yet he choose to represent Argentina (his home country). Secondly let's look at Ronaldo career, he had no reasonable reason to return back to Manchester united when they were no where among the best teams in the world.

Ronaldo could have joined Pep Guardiola Manchester city and won everything but he made the wrong decision joining Manchester united. Look at Messi now turning down contracts that is worth more than what Ronaldo sold his soul for. Ronaldo career decisions just keep getting worse every time. I think he should just retire instead of making we the fans have less ego for the goat debate. He should leave the Saudi Arabia league and come back to Europe to compete with the best. He's the best and shoudn't be playing with retired players and farmers.

Wait, I'm a little less understanding of what you're saying, didn't you read my post properly. I'm going to quote what you said "Do we really think that Benzema swapped 'El Clasico' for the Saudi Pro League just to chase the dollar" well you said another point as instrument of his faith in his decisions. then, you ask, should we ignore it.

The question is, did you read my post correctly. that I said, besides the big salary factor that there are other factors to consider. We both agree that cultural factors and strong beliefs were included in why Karim Benzema accepted Al Ittihad's offer, despite being a Real Madrid star. with all considerations, also involving his family as quoted by Fabrizio Romano, who in the end Benzema joined Al Ittihad. So, what are we arguing about here, or what are we arguing about. isn't it, the essence we mean is the same.

Man, the transfer market is not over anything can happen on the last day we still remember when Ronaldo surprisingly moved to AL Nassr
So they can do it this season let's just wait for the announcement, I believe money is not the main problem because we know who's behind this club
what is clear is that old players will be the target of Saudi clubs at least for players over 30 years old.

There are many differences if it is associated with his appearance at Real Madrid or at Manchester United, at Real Madrid many players are able to provide assists to Ronaldo in scoring goals and they have a class of players who are far different from al-Nassr. And vice versa when he was at Manchester United even though his appearance was much decreased. The media is too crowded talking about competition between Ronaldo and Messi so that despite appearing extraordinary at an age that is no longer young, it is still associated with competition with Messi.

Talking about the level of appearance is undeniably at this time Ronaldo's appearance is far more decreased than when he was still in Real Madrid and even the second season at Manchester United was far worse, so he got doubts from the Old Trafford public and had conflict with Erik Ten Hak which eventually decided to move to al-Nassr.

Next season we might be able to see the extent of Ronaldo's ability in scoring goals and I think even though his appearance has declined but the instinct scoring his goal is still not bad.

Yes, as a team that is the ruler of the Saudi Pro League, Al-Ittihad feels threatened by Ronaldo at Al-Nassr. Signing Benzema and Ngolo Kante was the right move. With their arrival, of course Al-Ittihad strength is getting better. For Al-Nassr, they must be able to bring in quality players who can support Ronaldo movements on the field so they can win the title next season. There is no news that Al-Nassr wants to bring in another European star player, if they still have enough money, I think they can add 1-2 other European star players.

I think that is a common thing in most parts of the world, an employer not paying an employees wage for some reason, it could be a legit reason or it could be a bad reason. For example if a player gets injured out of game on their regular life, that's insurance and player may not get his salary, of course then they could sue the team and get the money if they are right as well so it makes sense, but at the end this isn't the first time we are hearing something like this.

And secondly, if they end up not paying these huge amounts of money to players, then those players will make a huge big marketing disaster for them and nobody will ever go to their league ever again, that's a risk they can't take and will be terrible for them.

Several top players have been drawn and gone to the SPL, and it is very likely that the SPL will have a great chance to become popular, Ronaldo was the first top player to be brought to the league, and was followed by Benzema and also several other players who were brought to the SPL. to bring in some of the other top players I think regarding financial problems they will not be constrained by this, they have a large enough fee to make the club and even the league successful from them.

I wonder why when Benzema is going to play in the Saudi Professional League then many of you equate it with religion. In fact, if Ronaldo wasn't here or in the Saudi Professional League first, then it's possible that not many top players would be willing to play in the Saudi Professional League. So, because in the beginning it was Ronaldo who made big changes like this, then of course there will be many famous players who might also play here in the Saudi Professional League and it's not about religion.

Money is what inspires a player to do more and makes him happier. In our careers or profession,we go for higher bidders than lower bidders and we also hope to move up higher everyday by day that is why there are promotions in offices to show that you deserve it from you commitment and faithfulness to the company. Benzema needs promotion in his career and in football what is promotion,is when a club values your worth and pays you higher than the club that you are. Benzema didn't go there for religious purpose,he went there to be more successful financially. He did the right move,Ronaldo was what the Saudis used first to entice the rest players. I wouldn't be surprise,if SPL becomes more popular than some leagues.

Are we really assuming Benzema swapped 'El Clasico' for Saudi Pro League merely chasing dollars? Sure, the financial pull is significant, but there are other variables at work. Benzema himself cited his Islamic faith as instrumental in his decision, should we disregard that?

What about the charm of a novel adventure? He's been a Madrid stalwart for years. Perhaps it's a longing for a fresh start, a rekindling of his footballing spirit. The Saudi league, with Ronaldo as part of its glamour, is becoming increasingly attractive.

Asserting money as the single motivation appears overly simplistic. Life and decisions within it are intrinsically complex.

I have been thinking for a while now that all these soccer players who had their careers in the 80s, 90s, and early 00s of this decade must feel like fools when they see that someone like Kante can go to Saudi Arabia and make 100 million a year! Since then the salaries exploded anyway and now the clubs from Saudi Arabia are taking this beyond imagination. I can only congratulate to all the lucky guys who have had their careers right now and not 20 years ago.

Karim Benzema was first attracted by the big paycheck that he was offered by the Saudi Arabian club. In Spain where he was playing before, they were Muslims and he was free to practice his religion as much as he could so saying he moved to Saudi Arabia simply because it is a Muslim country, is a big lie. Most players moving to the SPL are making the move mostly for the financial gain and not anything else. The financial gain is the first thing they consider before the country and how things are done there.

Finally, kante will come to the ittihad soon. Kante will be playing together with benzema on al ittihad. What a great decision from kante. Im very glad that kante was choosing ittihad instead of playing for chelsea's rival.
He was very loyal to the chelsea even until when he was depart from chelsea. I hope that kante will able to enjor the rest of his career in the saudi pro league.
That's a really huge salary for kante. Glad to see a rumor about ittihad was feeling doubt with the medical condition from kante was not true.
He has been fully recovering from his injury.

This is the first time hearing the news, and it's not great news for a league that spends money beyond reason just to bring in old players even though the goal is not only for the league but popularity to increase Saudi Arabia's value in order to win the election to host the 2030 world cup. It's really unfortunate for the player because winning in court is not enough for him to receive what is rightfully his. Dark stories like this have also happened in other leagues which are not really included in the news, and leagues that are not under strict supervision from the authorities will very likely commit fraud, including players, but clubs that bring in famous players will not maybe do that because of course it will immediately be in the news and what happens is a form of inequality.

Ronaldo did better in his first season, he came half of the season and score such goals is an impressive one, there is no comparison between Ighalo and Ronaldo, Ighalo has been in the league for years before Ronaldo.

Ighalo, should show some respect for Ronaldo, regardless of the anything.

I just heard about this and if I'm not mistaken Al-Ahli is a club in the 1st division of the saudi league which will begin promotion to the SPL next season. It seems they don't want to lose to the competition from other Saudi clubs who are competing to be able to bring in coaches or top players from Europe.

Apart from that, I've also heard other rumors that they just made an offer worth £85 million over 3 years for Riyad Mahrez from Manchester City and it seems very unlikely for Al-Ahli if they want to sign a European player with such a problematic track record.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12185171/Saudi-Al-Ahli-lining-Riyad-Mahrez-ready-hand-three-year-deal.html