Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>The big-budget transfer wind has turned its route to Saudi Arabia this year.<\/p>\nThe Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund took over 75 % of Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr clubs, with its large budget allocated to football.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, which has invested heavily in football with the aim of becoming one of the best leagues in the world, left its mark on the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n
With high fees, these teams signed many top players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Ruben Neves, Roberto Firmino and Riyad Mahrez.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo lights the first spark<\/b><\/p>\n
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo made the name of the Saudi Arabian league heard with his transfer move to Al-Nassr in December 2022.<\/p>\n
It was claimed that the annual wage of the 38-year-old would reach \u20ac200 million ($219 million).<\/p>\n
Despite global criticism, many players followed the footsteps of the Portuguese star and took the road to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Al-Nassr, which is coached by Portuguese Luis Castro, acquired Sadio Mane from Bayern Munich for \u20ac30 million ($32.8 million), Lens’s Seko Fofana for \u20ac25 million ($27.3 million), Inter’s Marcelo Brozovic for \u20ac18 million ($19.7 million), and Manchester United’s Alex Telles for \u20ac7 million ($7.6 million).<\/p>\n
Summer transfer window flares up with Benzema transfer<\/b><\/p>\n
The summer transfer window flared up after Real Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema signed for the reigning champion Al-Ittihad.<\/p>\n
In addition to Benzema, Al-Ittihad signed French N’Golo Kante from Chelsea, Brazilian Fabinho from Liverpool and Portuguese Jota from Celtic.<\/p>\n
Portuguese head coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s Al-Ittihad paid \u20ac46 million ($50 million) for Fabinho and \u20ac29 million ($31.7 million) for Jota.<\/p>\n
Kante became one of the most paid players with an annual salary of \u20ac100 million ($109.4 million).<\/p>\n
Transfers of Jorge Jesus’ Al-Hilal<\/b><\/p>\n
Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus’ Al-Hilal acquired Brazilian Malcom from Zenit for \u20ac60 million ($65.6 million), Portuguese Neves from Wolverhampton for \u20ac55 million ($60 million), Milinkovic-Savic for \u20ac40 million ($43.7 million) from Lazio, and Senegalese Koulibaly from Chelsea for \u20ac23 million ($25 million).<\/p>\n
Al-Ahli invest in attacking<\/b><\/p>\n
German coach Matthias Jaissle’s Al-Ahli, acquired Algerian Riyad Mahrez from Manchester City for \u20ac35 million ($38 million), Newcastle United’s French Allan Saint-Maximin for \u20ac27 million ($29.5 million), and Chelsea’s Senegalese Edouard Mendy for \u20ac18.5 million ($20 million).<\/p>\n
They also signed Liverpool’s Brazilian attacker Roberto Firmino for free.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, British coach Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ittifak bought English Jordan Henderson from Liverpool for \u20ac14 million ($15.3 million) and Olympique Lyon French Moussa Dembele for free.<\/p>\n
Messi, Mbappe reject Saudi Arabian league<\/b><\/p>\n
Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi and French star Kylian Mbappe claimed to have turned down astronomical offers from the Saudi Arabian league.<\/p>\n
It was claimed that Al-Hilal offered an annual salary of \u20ac500 million ($547 million) to Messi and \u20ac1 billion ($1.1 billion) to Mbappe.<\/p>\n
For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"*Writing by Selcuk bugra Gokalp Africa-Press – Malawi. The big-budget transfer wind has turned its route to Saudi Arabia this year. The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund took over 75 % of Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr clubs, with its large budget allocated to football. Saudi Arabia, which has invested heavily in football with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,371,2009,125,6378,234,6381,6324,6379,6357,295,6382],"class_list":["post-46882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-football","tag-karim-benzema","tag-malawi","tag-ngolo-kante","tag-riyad-mahrez","tag-roberto-firmino","tag-sadio-mane","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-transfer"],"yoast_head":"\n
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