Klopp still has to tremble
Saudi money league surprisingly cancels transfer offensive
November 18, 2023, 9:50 a.m
In the summer of 2023, Saudi Arabia will pursue the most aggressive transfer strategy ever seen in world football. They are investing around a billion euros in new players. Among them are numerous world stars. Things should be a little quieter in winter, says the director of the league and reveals the real plan.
The Saudi gold rush is over, that claims the director of the Saudi Pro League (SPL). In the summer of 2023, they showered European football with almost a billion euros in transfer fees and lured some of the best players to the desert. In the upcoming transfer window in January 2024, the league wants to concentrate on a few stars “at the highest level” and otherwise remain modest.
What at first glance seems like good news for the clubs in Europe’s top leagues does not change Jürgen Klopp’s plight. He has the Saudis’ biggest transfer target under contract with Egyptian Mo Salah at Liverpool FC. Already in the summer, Al-Ittihad had increased the bid for the 31-year-old almost every minute until the last day of the transfer window, and in the end it was said to have been over 170 million euros.
Al-Ittihad is one of four clubs in Saudi Arabia that actually access the “pot of money” that Uli Hoeneß spoke about in his interview with RTL/ntv. Like Al-Nassr (Sadio Mané! Cristiano Ronaldo!!!), Al-Hilal (Neymar!) and Al-Ahli (187.5 million euros in transfer spending), they are controlled by the Saudi investment fund PIF. After 13 matchdays, only one club, Al-Taawoun FC from Buraida, is between the PIF clubs in the league.
“Our work was exciting and aggressive”
Even without the injured Neymar, Al-Hilal is the clear leader with 35 points, followed by Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr with 31 points. Only Al-Ittihad FC from Jeddah, which is still without Salah and treated itself to world footballer Karim Benzema in the summer, is currently falling with only 24 points and is currently in fifth place; a little ahead of it, with 26 points, Al-Ahli is in third place.
It’s always about these emerging super clubs when now Michael Emenalo, the director of the SPL, says that all clubs are as good as taken care of. “We will make additions at the highest level,” says the 58-year-old Nigerian, who was under contract with Eintracht Trier during his playing days in the 1993/1994 season and then made a career as an official as a director at Chelsea and Monaco.
“I hope that we won’t have so much to do in January,” says Emenalo in an interview with the league’s own website. “Our work so far has been quite exciting and also aggressive. Most clubs have everything they need.” And if not, then they just fall into the “money pot” again.
Hoeneß warns of a dual attack
But the plan has long since changed and it is one that was only recently outlined by Hoeneß. “They are trying to buy world-class players and also build a proper structure for football,” said the honorary president of FC Bayern in an interview with RTL/ntv. This is what distinguishes Saudi Arabia from China, whose football project briefly made headlines in the mid-2010s and then quickly and deeply disappeared into obscurity.
Saudi Arabia does not want to and will not disappear. Gianni Infantino, a permanent guest in Saudi Arabia, made sure of that. In an opaque expedited procedure, the FIFA President promised the kingdom the 2034 World Cup last month. It is not official yet, but apart from non-existent revolutionary circles in football, there is no doubt that it will be awarded in the last quarter of 2024. Then all the annoying formalities are taken care of.
The SPL’s efforts are also aimed at this tournament. In addition to the star players from Europe, they also want to develop their own stars in order to send a team to the tournament in 2034 that can not only defeat Argentina in one game in 2022, as in Qatar, but also stay in the World Cup for a long, very long time.
Wild rumors about a new FIFA sponsor
“We have now attracted world-class players and we know that in doing so we have also attracted local players who want to get to this level, at their clubs and in the national team,” said Emenalo. “To develop it in this direction, we need to bring our infrastructure to this highest level.”
He had already observed this in England. World-class players from outside raise the level of football as a whole and ultimately lead to local world-class players. It’s that simple. But to do that you have to let the players grow, give them the opportunity and develop them in the academies. “I have always stated, privately and publicly, that top footballers are incredible and unique artists. You can only dream of what they can do until you try it yourself and realize how difficult it is,” enthused Emenalo. “These guys are exceptional artists and the artists will, over time, be greatly appreciated and copied by the young people of the country and that will be for the benefit of all.” Anyone interested in Saudi football. Everyone who visits the SPL stadiums and now sees the “artists”.
“The Saudis seem to be really determined to maybe dominate world football,” Hoeneß told RTL/ntv. The fact that there is more to this assumption than just pure alarmism is also shown by a rumor from the usually excellently informed “Times“. This week they reported on a new major sponsor of FIFA. The Saudi oil giant Aramco is said to be ready to provide around 100 million euros per year in sponsorship money. At least until 2034. The actual goal of all of the kingdom’s footballing endeavors.