Crazy Saudi league, galloping Saudi football
Believe it or not, after a summer of "digging and digging", the Saudi league has more Ballon d'Or awards than the entire European league combined.
With Neymar's arrival in Riyadh Crescent, the total summer window of the Saudi League has exceeded 600 million euros, which is a net investment of real money considering that the transfer income is almost negligible.
Even more exciting than the frenzy poaching is that the Saudi league has revolutionized the salary rules of the football world.
Neymar switched to Saudi Arabia at the age of 31.
With Neymar writing on a two-year, $300 million contract, the only four working emperors in world football with an annual salary of more than 100 million before tax are all in Saudi Arabia - Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Kante and Neymar.
What's more frightening is that according to Roma Sport, the Saudi Football Association is applying for a wild card from UEFA to participate in the 2024-2025 season of the Champions League, and the Saudi Football Association is willing to pay a high sponsorship fee...
Neymar joins Crescent with a smile on his face.
Give too much and don't want to work hard
Before the June transfer window opened, the New York Times first revealed the Saudi league's recruitment plan: 20 top foreign signings with a salary budget of 1 billion euros.
But now, that target is clearly "low". In fact, this summer, except for a few stars such as Messi, Modric, Son Heung-min and Zaha, the money is everywhere, and there is no disadvantage.
Before officially coming to Saudi Arabia, Neymar made a last-ditch effort to stay in Europe, and agent Zahavi almost sent his clients' job offers all over the Champions League teams, but except for the symbolic response of his old club Barca, all other teams ignored it.
Saudi fans line up to buy Neymar's new shirt.
If he returns to Catalonia, Neymar must first negotiate a termination with Greater Paris, and then accept a significant salary cut - after considering his own interests, Neymar finally gave up the idea of staying in Europe.
After all, after offering a salary to match Benzema's ($200 million a year), Riyadh Crescent has done everything the team can to meet the Brazilian's salary requirements and full image rights.
In addition, the new moon also provides them with a free private jet to travel on at any time, and can earn 80,000 euros for each win and even 500,000 euros for each social media post related to the team.
The Saudi journalist gave Fabinho a piece of Rolex.
Give too much, can't refuse, many superstars have experienced fierce ideological battles before moving to Saudi Arabia, but in the end they all surrendered to the "banknote ability" without exception.
For example, Brozovic, in order to switch to Barca, Croatian veterans waited for Laporta week after week, but the other side could not even get the salary space of 10 million euros before tax, and the "big B brother" who could not afford it had no choice but to switch to Riyadh to win, and Ronaldo became teammates.
The scene that happened to former Liverpool captain Henderson is even more comic - he has firmly stated that he will stay in the team, and he is busy announcing the change after the Saudis offered a salary far higher than the current treatment.
No wonder Liverpool fans sarcastically said: "He will always be a Liverpool player until one day the Saudis offered £700,000 a week." ”
Gerrard coaches Dammam Collaboration.
A similar operation also happened in the coach's dugout.
As the upstart of today's coaching circle, the managers from Portugal are the first to smell the "trench" of the Saudi league, and now there are 6 Portuguese coaches coaching in Saudi Arabia, accounting for 1/3 of the entire league, Jeddah United, Riyadh Victory and Riyadh Crescent The three favourites are all led by the Portuguese manager.
And Gerrard, a Liverpool legend, also chose the Saudi league as a foothold - the diplomatic rhetoric of the team is the same as that of his successor Henderson: "Leicester and Leeds United did not want me, so I went to Saudi Arabia." ”
Respond to requests, and replace the old with the new
In the stereotype of most fans, West Asia and North America are mostly older superstars who have passed their prime, and last year's Cristiano Ronaldo took the lead in winning Riyadh, which confirmed this view.
The new faces of the Saudi League this summer are still dominated by veterans, but there are not many players born around 1990.
As the most attractive middle-generation player in the Saudi League this summer, Riyadh Crescent's thinking is obviously different from Jeddah's twin heroes and city-rival victories, and they are more willing to spend money on players under 30 who still have potential.
Neves and Milinkovic Savic, who were favourites in the market over the past few seasons, were unable to close deals either because the owners overoffered or because of poor tactical fit.
Serbia international Milinković Savic moved to Saudi Arabia at the age of 28.
Especially Milinković Savic, who was once shouted by Lotito for less than 100 million euros not to sell, the Serbs are destined to fall into their hands if they stumble.
Of course, the Saudi league can eat a lot of stars, and it is not unrelated to the tightening financial fairness of the European league.
Due to La Liga's strict salary cap setting, Barca could only sell it to Jeddah National at a discount of 12.5 million euros after peddling Kessie without success, which is almost one of the few "robbery" deals in the Saudi league.
Chelsea, which is also eager to lose weight, has locked the "interbank loan" as the preferred trade target for the Saudi league.
In addition to Kai Havertz, more than half of Chelsea's £200 million this summer came from selling redundant personnel to Saudi Arabia - the Blues reduced their burden and completed the replacement, Jeddah National Limit Reinforcement, who said that the Saudi League is just stupid people with more money? "Win-win" can also be done easily.
Cristiano Ronaldo just won the Arab Champions Cup trophy with Riyadh Victory.
Immortal fights are the norm
This past weekend, the Saudi league and the Premier League and La Liga started at the same time. Although the Saudi league is temporarily unable to match European events in terms of broadcast time and ratings, the quality of the game is already considerable, and the new big names are in the limelight.
In the opener, Jeddah Nationals lightly scored on Roberto Firmino's hat-trick, and the two wingers Mahrez and Saint-Maximin took turns to break through, which also made fans roar.
The opener, blessed by the former Premier League star, attracted more than 24,000 fans, about 10,000 more than the average attendance at Jeddah last season.
The Riyadh New Moon, which ushered in Neymar, also swept away the gloom of losing the Arab Champions League in the first match. Malcolm, a striker who played for Barcelona, also wears a hat, and it is conceivable that when Neymar officially debuts, the Brazilian double gun is not only the trump card of the new moon to grab points, but may even be transplanted to the Brazilian national team at the same time.
As the world's first payman in football, Benzema, who missed a penalty in the Arab Champions League, is still in poor form, while the two Premier League iron-waist performances of Kante and Fabinho can only be regarded as average, but former Guangzhou City foreign aid Hammed is eye-catching.
Of course, he and another Guangzhou visitor, Talisca can now only be regarded as second-tier stars in the Saudi league.
As of August 16, the Saudi Arabian league has net transfer expenses of 600 million euros, second only to the Premier League with 928 million euros in the world. Especially in the context of negative net investment in La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga (transfer income exceeds expenditure), it is self-evident where the money is spent and where people go.
Mane joined Riyadh Victory from Bayern and became team-mates with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Saudi Arabia changed the laws of football
With such a big battle, is the Saudi League really going to become a "fifth league" as Ronaldo said? At least, the first league outside the big five?
"The Saudis have changed the transfer market." As early as this summer, when many stars in the team were chased by the Saudi league, Guardiola once expressed such feelings.
Now, even the rich Premier League is on Saudi Arabia's gold dollar offensive.
"It took us 30 years to get to where we are today in terms of visibility, competitiveness and revenue streams." Premier League CEO Masters was initially less concerned about the "lack of heritage" of the Saudi league, like most Britons, but he has changed his mind.
"Something is clearly happening, the Saudi league has said they want to be in the top 10 (globally) by 2030."
According to the Saudi Football Federation's plan, the market value of the entire league will be doubled this year, and commercial revenue will increase by 300% to 1.8 billion reais, or about $480 million.
Now, with more and more stars on board, and sponsors, social media and televised follow-up, that goal is not far off.
List of big names in Saudi Arabia this summer:
Neymar 31 years old Paris Saint-Germain-Riyadh Crescent 90 million euros
Benzema 35 years old Real Madrid-Jeddah United on a free transfer
Mane 31 years old Bayern Munich-Riyadh Victory 30 million euros
Mahrez 32 years old Manchester City-Jeddah National 35 million euros
N'Golo Kante 32 years old Chelsea-Jeddah United on a free transfer
Milinković Savage 28 years old Lazio-Riyadh Crescent 40 million euros
Curibaly 32 years old Chelsea-Riyadh Crescent €23 million
Henderson 33 Liverpool-Dammam collaboration €14 million
Firmino 31 years old Liverpool-Jeddah National on a free transfer
Fabinho 29 years old Liverpool-Jeddah joint €46.7 million
Brozovic 31 years old Inter Milan-Riyadh Victory 18 million euros
Alex Telles 30 years old Manchester United-Riyadh Victory €4.6 million
Malcolm 26 years old Zenit-Riyadh Crescent in St. Petersburg 60 million euros
Ruben Neves 26 years old Wolves - Riyadh Crescent 55 million euros
Roger Ibáñez 24 years old Nacional Rome-Jeddah 28.5 million euros
Saint-Maximin 26 years old Newcastle-Jeddah National 27.2 million euros
Edouard Mendy 31 years old Çonale Chelsea-Jeddah 18.5 million euros
Kathy 26 years old Barcelona-Jeddah National 12.5 million euros
Bunu 32 years old Seville-Lea Crescent 21 million euros
(Supine Push-ups/Yang Jian)
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