So far the big Saudi Arabian League teams are still not very active in the transfer market this season. Maybe only Al Ittihad is currently quite active in bringing in new players. The reason is that so far Al Ittihad has brought in 8 new players into their squad.
Meanwhile, Al Hilal, Al Nasr or Al Ettifaq have not been very active in the transfer market this time. Moreover, Al Hilal, as far as I know, the club made by Jorge Jesus has not made any purchases in the transfer market. Meanwhile, Al Nasr has so far only brought in one new player, namely Bento, the PR Atletico goalkeeper. Then Al Ettifaq also only brought in one player in this transfer market, namely Marek Rodak from Fulham.
So, if you look at it, you could say that the Saudi Arabian League transfer market this season is not as exciting as last season. The reason is, last season, many top European players joined clubs in the Saudi Arabian League. However, for some reason, in this transfer market, many big Saudi Arabian League teams are less active, even though if you look at the performance of teams like Al Nasr or Al Ettifaq, it is clear that they need new, better players. Maybe for Al Hilal it makes sense not to bring in new players in the transfer market this time. The reason is that Al Hilal's performance has proven to be very good in the Saudi Arabian League, the proof is that Al Hilal has succeeded in becoming champion this season. So with this, it is natural that Al Hilal will not recruit players in the transfer market this season.
But if we talk about teams like Al Nasr or other teams, I think it's clear that they have to bring in new players in the transfer market this season. So Al Nasr and other teams in the Saudi Arabian League have to really move quickly. The reason is that this season's transfer market will soon be over.
Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 99. (Read 119037 times)
Ronaldo extended one more season makes sense for not only Al Nassr, but for the whole league as well. Because this league got its attention since Ronaldo joined, I keep putting the emphasis on the same thing, this page did not existed on this forum before Ronaldo went there, literally started at January 4th of 2023, meaning 1.5 or so years ago, and it's now at 700 pages. Without Ronaldo this would not happen, remove Ronaldo from their history, and NONE of their transfers would get this much attention, not an injured Neymar, not a missing Benzema, nobody.
But because they got Ronaldo, we reached at 700 pages of chat here, all thanks to him and it's clear that he is a big name. You want to know how big? Messi joined MLS, much younger, could even maybe win it, where is the topic for MLS in this topic? Nowhere to be found. That doesn't mean that he will be a good player at 40 years old, but at least he will keep the attention on this league and that's why they are paying him.
Beginning began with the arrival of Ronaldo with Al Nassr and of course after that more and more star players came and enlivened the SPL.But because they got Ronaldo, we reached at 700 pages of chat here, all thanks to him and it's clear that he is a big name. You want to know how big? Messi joined MLS, much younger, could even maybe win it, where is the topic for MLS in this topic? Nowhere to be found. That doesn't mean that he will be a good player at 40 years old, but at least he will keep the attention on this league and that's why they are paying him.
MLS is not like this, there the hype is not really as big as the SPL and of course this is truly amazing success for the development of Saudi League football to be much better and known to more people.
Discussions like this have also been discussed lot here and all about Ronaldo influence on the SPL.
Everything has gone well and Al Nassr itself has goal machine figure who has proven to be able to provide lot of influence on the strength of the team even though there are several other players who are no less great at scoring goal.
Speaking of Al Nassr, they seem to have performed poorly in the pre-season match and other surprising news is about the rumor of Aymeric Laporte departure, he has only been with Al Nassr us for one season and there is already news of his departure.
Al Nassr took bold step by recruiting Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, a very good decision that they're enjoying in the current days of football. Ronaldo is the one man that haven't lost his value in football. Despite moving to Asian football, he still remain the disputed GOAT based on his incredible achievement and his presence pave path for SPL clubs to have easy access to signing European players.
Well, basically it was after Cristiano Ronaldo came to the SPL that we also started to see other European star players starting to follow suit. And the result is that now I have even stopped counting European star players who have joined the SPL. Even in the current transfer window we also see young European players joining one of the SPL clubs, such as Moussa Diaby who left Aston Villa and joined Al-ittihad. And then Al-Nassr also got a young goalkeeper from the Brazilian national team, namely Bento Matheus Krepski. And it is not impossible that next season there will be more young European players coming here. And makes SPL even more interesting. And it all started with C.Ronaldo's presence at Al-Nassr. 
Ronaldo extended one more season makes sense for not only Al Nassr, but for the whole league as well. Because this league got its attention since Ronaldo joined, I keep putting the emphasis on the same thing, this page did not existed on this forum before Ronaldo went there, literally started at January 4th of 2023, meaning 1.5 or so years ago, and it's now at 700 pages. Without Ronaldo this would not happen, remove Ronaldo from their history, and NONE of their transfers would get this much attention, not an injured Neymar, not a missing Benzema, nobody.
But because they got Ronaldo, we reached at 700 pages of chat here, all thanks to him and it's clear that he is a big name. You want to know how big? Messi joined MLS, much younger, could even maybe win it, where is the topic for MLS in this topic? Nowhere to be found. That doesn't mean that he will be a good player at 40 years old, but at least he will keep the attention on this league and that's why they are paying him.
Al Nassr took bold step by recruiting Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, a very good decision that they're enjoying in the current days of football. Ronaldo is the one man that haven't lost his value in football. Despite moving to Asian football, he still remain the disputed GOAT based on his incredible achievement and his presence pave path for SPL clubs to have easy access to signing European players. But because they got Ronaldo, we reached at 700 pages of chat here, all thanks to him and it's clear that he is a big name. You want to know how big? Messi joined MLS, much younger, could even maybe win it, where is the topic for MLS in this topic? Nowhere to be found. That doesn't mean that he will be a good player at 40 years old, but at least he will keep the attention on this league and that's why they are paying him.
Ronaldo extended one more season makes sense for not only Al Nassr, but for the whole league as well. Because this league got its attention since Ronaldo joined, I keep putting the emphasis on the same thing, this page did not existed on this forum before Ronaldo went there, literally started at January 4th of 2023, meaning 1.5 or so years ago, and it's now at 700 pages. Without Ronaldo this would not happen, remove Ronaldo from their history, and NONE of their transfers would get this much attention, not an injured Neymar, not a missing Benzema, nobody.
But because they got Ronaldo, we reached at 700 pages of chat here, all thanks to him and it's clear that he is a big name. You want to know how big? Messi joined MLS, much younger, could even maybe win it, where is the topic for MLS in this topic? Nowhere to be found. That doesn't mean that he will be a good player at 40 years old, but at least he will keep the attention on this league and that's why they are paying him.
There were reports that the Portuguese captain might be moving to Germany to join the Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen, but this rumor was refuted. Not just Al-Nassr, the Saudi Professional League will not be the same if Ronaldo leaves. He has brought so much positive influence to the league, including the expected television rights mega deal. In terms of performance, he has not done badly, scoring 70 goals in 64 appearances for his club. He is currently earning about £ 173m per season, which might increase if he signs a new contract. But because they got Ronaldo, we reached at 700 pages of chat here, all thanks to him and it's clear that he is a big name. You want to know how big? Messi joined MLS, much younger, could even maybe win it, where is the topic for MLS in this topic? Nowhere to be found. That doesn't mean that he will be a good player at 40 years old, but at least he will keep the attention on this league and that's why they are paying him.
The striker has not also shown any interest in retiring from international football because he still has the intention to feature in the next World Cup if he is given the opportunity by coach Roberto Martinez. Maybe he might be considered since this might be his last competition for Portugal. The reason why we are discussing the SPL more is because of the influence of Ronaldo and other players. The SPL management invested a lot of money in not just Ronaldo but other key players. I also think that they also put a lot of money into promotion.
Ronaldo extended one more season makes sense for not only Al Nassr, but for the whole league as well. Because this league got its attention since Ronaldo joined, I keep putting the emphasis on the same thing, this page did not existed on this forum before Ronaldo went there, literally started at January 4th of 2023, meaning 1.5 or so years ago, and it's now at 700 pages. Without Ronaldo this would not happen, remove Ronaldo from their history, and NONE of their transfers would get this much attention, not an injured Neymar, not a missing Benzema, nobody.
But because they got Ronaldo, we reached at 700 pages of chat here, all thanks to him and it's clear that he is a big name. You want to know how big? Messi joined MLS, much younger, could even maybe win it, where is the topic for MLS in this topic? Nowhere to be found. That doesn't mean that he will be a good player at 40 years old, but at least he will keep the attention on this league and that's why they are paying him.
But because they got Ronaldo, we reached at 700 pages of chat here, all thanks to him and it's clear that he is a big name. You want to know how big? Messi joined MLS, much younger, could even maybe win it, where is the topic for MLS in this topic? Nowhere to be found. That doesn't mean that he will be a good player at 40 years old, but at least he will keep the attention on this league and that's why they are paying him.
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The government in that country also seems to be helping to advance the world of football there. So it is not surprising that clubs that are under PIF ownership continue to buy players from Europe which could make the SPL more attractive to the world of world football. And I like that move. Because with this SPL is now becoming increasingly popular. And not only that, I also see increased competition and the strength of all SPL clubs has increased drastically. In the past, the trigger might have been when Cristiano Ronaldo arrived. But now we have seen more European star players here. Even 2 players who won the Ballon D'or are also here. Namely Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema.The government has to play a big part in this. Funding this operation, but whats the end goal? Is it just to improve their image for a short time, or do they really want to build a sports powerhouse? Everyone is looking at you. It was a risky move by the Saudis, but time will tell if it was a checkmate or just a flashy starting move.
Profits are made in the transfer window especially from SPL influential men. The top investors in Saudi Arabia will not relent, they will ensure they table the best offers for European players. Growth is the main target for these clubs because they've fought with everything and targeting big winning. Saudi Pro League is a tough one to predicts, it's been really a hectic day for most of these SPL clubs.
The government in that country also seems to be helping to advance the world of football there. So it is not surprising that clubs that are under PIF ownership continue to buy players from Europe which could make the SPL more attractive to the world of world football. And I like that move. Because with this SPL is now becoming increasingly popular. And not only that, I also see increased competition and the strength of all SPL clubs has increased drastically. In the past, the trigger might have been when Cristiano Ronaldo arrived. But now we have seen more European star players here. Even 2 players who won the Ballon D'or are also here. Namely Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema.Now they are bringing good number of top quality players from the world as they are looking for more fans from around the world, and they are also achieving these as well their best and huge investment was Cristiano Ronaldo this open doors for many other players and now things are looking on track because in next season we are going to have too many big names are coming to join this league.
It's all happening due to their available sources because overall they are having no profit from their investments which are they giving to these players as salaries and bonuses in last few years.
~Snip
If you followed his rumor, you must already know that Al Nassr plans to extend his contract. It is reported that Al Nassr will extend 1 year for Ronaldo's contract. It means Ronaldo's contract will be over in Jun 30, 2026. If this happens, Ronaldo will keep playing in SPL until 40 years old. And he may also still play in Portugal national team as well.
Source: givemesport.com
Yes, this rumor has actually been hotly discussed since last season. Maybe this time the rumors will actually come true. Considering that Ronaldo looks very comfortable at Al Nasr. So Al Nasr's offer to extend his contract will definitely go very smoothly. The reason is that many reports say that Ronaldo intends to retire in the Al Nasr uniform. Although these rumors cannot be completely trusted, considering Ronaldo's current age, I think it is quite reasonable for him to retire at Al Nasr. So in essence, Al Nasr could indeed be the last club that Ronaldo defends. Because the point is, if you think about it, in this transfer market, Ronaldo's name was not mentioned or interested by any club. This doesn't mean that Ronaldo is no longer great, but because he is very old. So you can be sure that Ronaldo will definitely remain strong at Al Nasr. If you followed his rumor, you must already know that Al Nassr plans to extend his contract. It is reported that Al Nassr will extend 1 year for Ronaldo's contract. It means Ronaldo's contract will be over in Jun 30, 2026. If this happens, Ronaldo will keep playing in SPL until 40 years old. And he may also still play in Portugal national team as well.
Source: givemesport.com
Apart from that, currently Ronaldo has not been able to give Al Nasr the prestigious trophy. So it is certain that with this, Ronaldo definitely feels that his responsibilities at Al Nasr have not been achieved. Therefore, he will definitely be very excited to present the prestigious trophy to Al Nasr. I hope that in the coming season Ronaldo can give the Saudi Arabian league trophy to Al Nasr.
While the attention is true, they are not making 10% of that money back right now, they are only capable of bringing these players by overpaying them by a lot, Ronaldo alone makes more money than what Saudi league generates as income, meaning that it is not going to be possible for Saudi League to keep this up if they want to be profitable.
However, since they make countless amount of money from oil income, they are not really interested in making this league profitable, they are willing to lose money in order to keep this growing. Will that mean if they spend enough money on the league, one day it will grow to be big enough to actually make good amount of money? I am not sure, but feels like that would take at least a decade, maybe more. They claimed that they want to be sixth biggest league in the world, but they are not even in top 10 right now, hell I wouldn't put them in top 20 right now, and they are spending as much as the top 5 leagues, that's not a good return.
However, since they make countless amount of money from oil income, they are not really interested in making this league profitable, they are willing to lose money in order to keep this growing. Will that mean if they spend enough money on the league, one day it will grow to be big enough to actually make good amount of money? I am not sure, but feels like that would take at least a decade, maybe more. They claimed that they want to be sixth biggest league in the world, but they are not even in top 10 right now, hell I wouldn't put them in top 20 right now, and they are spending as much as the top 5 leagues, that's not a good return.
In several seasons I always follow the development of football, including the Saudi Pro League. this season, for some reason the transfer window does not really attract my attention in its development. well, we know how rich clubs in this competition bring in players who have big names in the European League scene and the question is whether changes will occur in the near future. whether it's in the business sector, or for football itself. I'm not sure in the near future there will be significant changes, at least it takes a process. after all, the one that funds Saudi clubs to bring in star players, Ronaldo and after that is a company owned by the Saudi kingdom. plus it's not just football that is included in their plans, but also includes the development of the world of sports in Saudi. so it's very clear, for us to assume that they have a very big project. btw, we agree that Saudi needs a long time to make its football much more developed than before, that is if the project they fund has clear progress in the future. regarding other points that you said in this post, honestly I don't follow its development. however, interestingly this season there are other teams that are ready to compete with clubs under the auspices of PIF, for example Al Qadsiah who are quite active in bringing in several European players.
Last night was Al-Ittihad's fourth consecutive defeat in pre-season matches and Real Betis did not hold back by crushing them with a score of 4-1. I think this is still not a good result, especially since next season is getting closer and they must get positive results if they don't want to be tied down again like last season.
In fact, if we look at Al-Ittihad, they have played with their main composition such as Benzema, Diaby, and Jota for the attack line and in the middle line there are Aouar and Fabinho. But for some reason they find it very difficult to win and after changing coaches, it seems there is no difference at all. Laurent Blanc must prove his capacity and if in the Saudi pro league this result persists, it is not impossible that Al-Ittihad will fire him in a short time.
It seems that today Ronaldo has arrived in Saudi Arabia and will join his teammates at Al-Nassr to play the remaining pre-season matches. He has missed the previous five pre-season matches and maybe in the last pre-season match against the Spanish team, Granada, he will go down to the field with his teammates. Of course he still needs a warm-up before the important match in mid-August in the Saudi Super Cup against Al-Taawoun.
Ronaldo must prove that his achievements last season with Al-Nassr were not luck and that it was pure hard work that he has always maintained so far. We still remember that last season he managed to score 54 goals in all competitions from club and national team levels and I think he will still be hungry to pursue his record which will soon touch 900 goals before reaching the final target of 1000 goals throughout his career.
Cristiano Ronaldo will definitely try to set a record for many goals again. But we also shouldn't forget that Cristiano Ronaldo's age continues to increase and perhaps his stamina this season may not be as good as last season. But I believe he will still be the player who can contribute the most to the team, just like last season.
Saudi clubs are almost new as we have only seen Saudi clubs come into discussion since Cristiano Ronaldo joined this Saudi Pro League. But the clubs were formed from the past, these clubs were lagging behind due to lack of great and interesting players. Especially the European stars have rejuvenated these clubs, they have invested a lot of money to rejuvenate these clubs and most of this investment comes from the oil sector.
But they are financially independent and they want to gain fame in the world. So it is their desire to add European stars to every club. This place in the Saudi Premier League will not be a loss if the clubs invest in this football club as they have come a long way.
Yes, we didn't know much about the Saudi Pro League clubs before and didn't even discuss and hear about those clubs. However, after Cristiano Ronaldo joined a Saudi Pro League club, those clubs and the matches played in that league are coming into discussion. Most of the Middle Eastern countries have been represented for a long time and are associated with various clubs such as Qatar's Nasser Al-Khelaifi. This person is the president of Paris Saint Germain club. He spends lavishly on players to improve his club, just as Saudi Arabian club owners buy star players to add to their squads to brighten up their league.But they are financially independent and they want to gain fame in the world. So it is their desire to add European stars to every club. This place in the Saudi Premier League will not be a loss if the clubs invest in this football club as they have come a long way.
The owners of Saudi Pro League clubs have already bought Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Brazil's Neymar Jr., France's Karim Benzema. As these players join different clubs, the rivalry between them is increasing even getting more growth which makes the audience more interested.
If you followed his rumor, you must already know that Al Nassr plans to extend his contract. It is reported that Al Nassr will extend 1 year for Ronaldo's contract. It means Ronaldo's contract will be over in Jun 30, 2026. If this happens, Ronaldo will keep playing in SPL until 40 years old. And he may also still play in Portugal national team as well.
Source: givemesport.com
Ronaldo currently 39 years old and if Al Nassr is really want to extended his contract and Ronaldo accept it then he will be at Al Nassr until 41 years old and obviously this could be personal record for him because on that age Ronaldo still active as a player and about his chances to playing at Portugal National Team i think the manager will see his performance during playing with Al Nassr before deciding to putting him into Portugal squad for world cup qualification matches or probably to playing at World cup 2026Source: givemesport.com
Regardless of Ronaldo age i think he is still important for Al Nassr because since joining with Al Nassr Ronaldo can playing consistent and scores a lot of goals and i have to says for Al Nassr forward lines Ronaldo is the best compared to other forward players which Al Nassr has and it proven from Ronaldo record because last season he can broke some records and he can being an Al Nassr top scorer in all competitions
Al Nassr without Ronaldo still unable to win from their pre season matches and the latest is today Al Nassr was lost from Laliga team Granada with the final score 1-0 and next match Al Nassr will fight against Al-Taawon at the semifinal of Saudi Super Cup and this is good chances for Al Nassr to gets their first trophy before entering new season but still not confirmed whether Ronaldo will be playing or not
Profits are made in the transfer window especially from SPL influential men. The top investors in Saudi Arabia will not relent, they will ensure they table the best offers for European players. Growth is the main target for these clubs because they've fought with everything and targeting big winning. Saudi Pro League is a tough one to predicts, it's been really a hectic day for most of these SPL clubs.
The government in that country also seems to be helping to advance the world of football there. So it is not surprising that clubs that are under PIF ownership continue to buy players from Europe which could make the SPL more attractive to the world of world football. And I like that move. Because with this SPL is now becoming increasingly popular. And not only that, I also see increased competition and the strength of all SPL clubs has increased drastically. In the past, the trigger might have been when Cristiano Ronaldo arrived. But now we have seen more European star players here. Even 2 players who won the Ballon D'or are also here. Namely Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema.The Saudi crown prince has taken a number of steps since taking over as king and is slowly implementing those steps. It is mainly because of him that the popularity of Saudi League has increased so much and its popularity will increase in the future.
Profits are made in the transfer window especially from SPL influential men. The top investors in Saudi Arabia will not relent, they will ensure they table the best offers for European players. Growth is the main target for these clubs because they've fought with everything and targeting big winning. Saudi Pro League is a tough one to predicts, it's been really a hectic day for most of these SPL clubs.
The government in that country also seems to be helping to advance the world of football there. So it is not surprising that clubs that are under PIF ownership continue to buy players from Europe which could make the SPL more attractive to the world of world football. And I like that move. Because with this SPL is now becoming increasingly popular. And not only that, I also see increased competition and the strength of all SPL clubs has increased drastically. In the past, the trigger might have been when Cristiano Ronaldo arrived. But now we have seen more European star players here. Even 2 players who won the Ballon D'or are also here. Namely Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema. 
Al-Ittihad still has not won in their pre-season match and they just suffered another 3-1 defeat when facing a Portuguese team, Farense. I think Saudi league teams that play pre-season matches and face Portuguese teams always encounter difficulties and last time Al-Nassr felt the same thing after being beaten badly by Porto with 4 goals without reply.
With this, we can see that the quality of the top Saudi league teams is not better when facing teams from Europe and I think maybe only Al-Hilal can be proud of so far. Even though each team has improved by adding new recruits, for some reason they find it very difficult to win and if it is like this, it is not impossible that Al-Hilal will roam freely and unstoppable. Al-Ittihad must realize this and they will be quite embarrassed if they cannot compete again later.
I don't think we need to say anymore that the teams in Asia, especially Saudi Arabia have not been able to match the level of the team from Europe. Maybe some teams can be said to be at the level, but we also have to see how good the competition in the European country, but most Europe is famous for its good football. We must be able to be a little patient to see if they will play well in the competition or not, and we must see that in the actual competition, the article they already use all of their abilities at that time.
It seems that today Ronaldo has arrived in Saudi Arabia and will join his teammates at Al-Nassr to play the remaining pre-season matches. He has missed the previous five pre-season matches and maybe in the last pre-season match against the Spanish team, Granada, he will go down to the field with his teammates. Of course he still needs a warm-up before the important match in mid-August in the Saudi Super Cup against Al-Taawoun.
Ronaldo must prove that his achievements last season with Al-Nassr were not luck and that it was pure hard work that he has always maintained so far. We still remember that last season he managed to score 54 goals in all competitions from club and national team levels and I think he will still be hungry to pursue his record which will soon touch 900 goals before reaching the final target of 1000 goals throughout his career.
When Neymar first arrived at Barcelona, we could only guess that the Brazilian superstar would single-handedly break all the records of all previous players. He was injury free during his time at Barcelona and had a brilliant career but when he left Barcelona to join PSG for money, his career began to suffer. If he had focused on his career instead of giving priority to money at that time, he might have had many achievements to his name today. Won only one Champions League trophy that too while at Barcelona. PSG bought him from Barcelona for a record transfer fee, but he never played a full season there as he suffered serious injuries early or midway through each season and was sidelined for the entire season. .
Although PSG accepted him for a long time, after Luis Enrique took charge of PSG, he did not accept Neymar at all and sold Neymar to Saudi club Al Hilal. Al Hilal are suffering from the same problem of signing Neymar to their club i.e. there is also Neymar's injury.
Neymar is a good player, and his problem at PSG was only that he had a very large salary and for PSG over time this became a problem that they wanted to get rid of. There were also some moments with discipline, there were no big conflicts, but PSG wanted to get rid of Neymar, and Al Hilal helped them with this.
The fact that he received such a serious injury is not his fault, I think everyone understands this, and his contract expires soon, they doubt that it will be extended. Neymar said that in 2025, when his contract ends, he will return to Santos, probably there he plans to finish his career.
I don't know which deals have been sealed so far, maybe someone can provide an overview or give an informative link about what has happen so far, but if you ask me it feels like the transfer heat that the Saudi Professional League created in the past years has cooled down quite a lot. Transfers a la Ronaldo or Neymar are nowhere to be seen, are they?
You can check all the SPL player transfers through this link: https://www.transfermarkt.com/saudi-professional-league/transfers/wettbewerb/SA1I agree that there is no impressive transfer so far. I don't know why Saudi clubs look like to have no interest to spend a lot of money. Or the interest of European players has been decreasing to join SPL in the current season. Sure, there is a big change, we didn't see anymore a big transfer like Ronaldo, Benzema, Mane, or even Neymar. The best SPL transfer in the current season is Nacho Fernández from Real Madrid. It is unlikely to see another big players to join SPL in the remaining time of the current transfer window.
I am curious to see what Ronaldo is going to do after this season. I can see why he would not be able to resist an extension for another 200 million euros. But let's see what is going to happen towards the end of the season. He might even go and extend his contract early if the Saudis put a big bag of money on the table.
If you followed his rumor, you must already know that Al Nassr plans to extend his contract. It is reported that Al Nassr will extend 1 year for Ronaldo's contract. It means Ronaldo's contract will be over in Jun 30, 2026. If this happens, Ronaldo will keep playing in SPL until 40 years old. And he may also still play in Portugal national team as well.Source: givemesport.com
He is going to be 40 years old anyway. Doesn't matter whether he is going to extend his contract or not. His birthday is in February, so by the time this contract ends he will be 40, but would even be 41 if he plays until 2026.
I think there is a chance that he will extend his contract because he might be aiming for the World Cup 2026. Of course he wouldn't play if he retires, and he doesn't many options now although I think some second tier club in Europe would sign him. But why leave the SPL when you can make 200 million a year over there and still be nominated for the national team in Portugal?
So I think you are right that this probably will end in a contract extension. And he has no injuries, so I understand him as a professional, too. It is hard to let go I am sure and he can still dominate the SPL as he has shown. He will most likely be the top scorer again.
I believe that European players, especially the younger ones, have noticed that the buzz can die down quite quickly. Then you are playing in a league that nobody is watching instead of playing in the Premier League or La Liga. Money means a lot, but come on, they can earn a damn fortune in Europe as well. The Saudis wanted to get a wave going, but they failed. They saw that paying billions doesn't automatically draw more players to their league. They would have to keep going and that's in no way sustainable no matter how much oil they have. They can't be pouring billions in a single player. Ronaldo was an exception. But they raised the bar themselves and then other players said: if Ronaldo earns 200 million a year, I am fine with 80 million. They shot themselves in their knees by raising these expectations.
Imagine they now sign a player and pay 50 million, nobody is even interested anymore. Back then when it started everybody was shocked because nobody knew where this would end. Very short term effect.
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