The Saudi Pro League (SPL) has just had a very busy winter transfer period. The big four clubs owned by PIF, Al Nassr, Al Hilal, Al Ittihad and Al Ahli, spent more than £100 million on players. The remaining 14 teams spent a total of £12.1 million. This shows the clear division in financial strength in the Saudi Arabian national championship.
The two teams that spent the most were Al Nassr with the contract of Jhon Duran from Aston Villa for 64.5 million pounds. Following were Al Ahli with Galeno from FC Porto for 41.6 million pounds. Previously, Al Ahli also welcomed Ivan Toney in the summer transfer window of 2024 for 50 million pounds.
If the deal to buy Kaoru Mitoma from Brighton is successful, Al Nassr will have spent nearly £130m in January alone as they bid up to £61m for the Seagulls in their second offer. The previous offer of £54m was rejected by the Amex Stadium team.
After a seemingly quiet summer of 2024 without a massive influx of star signings, blockbuster deals have arrived at the Saudi Pro League, signaling that the league will once again stir up the player market like it did in the summer of 2023. In the summer of 2023, many big stars arrived, such as Sadio Mane, Neymar and Riyad Mahrez. That period saw the Saudi Pro League throw nearly $1 billion into the transfer market.
Saudi Arabia is hosting the 2034 World Cup. Until then, the country’s domestic league will be heavily invested in to gain publicity and polish the image of the national football. Senior Saudi football officials told The Athletic that there is always a period of calm before the big events.
The past two relatively quiet transfer windows could signal a summer boom in 2025, which could be good news for European clubs looking to offload players. However, the moves for Jhon Duran and Galeno suggest that the days of the Saudi Pro League spending hundreds of millions of pounds on players in their twilight years are over.
The Player Acquisition Centre of Excellence (PACE) will be established for the 2023-24 season and will be responsible for allocating funds to SPL clubs and keeping a close eye on any clubs targeting players in the market. PACE will be run by Michael Emenalo, formerly Chelsea’s technical director, who now takes on the role of SPL director of football.
According to The Athletic, the budget from PACE for this season has basically been spent in the 2023-2024 season. Therefore, teams do not have many opportunities to buy players in the summer of 2024 (preparation period for the 2024-2025 season). Teams during this time who want to buy people will be forced to sell some of their stars, otherwise it will be very difficult.
The Saudi Arabian football people's perspective is very different from that of Europe but not unreasonable or arrogant. They have created a plan called Saudi Vision 2023. The focus will be on investing in football to make money, not throwing money at football pointlessly.
SPL is looking to develop clubs evenly, especially the Big 4 group. In the last 10 SPL titles, Al Hilal is the owner of 6 championship cups. Therefore, PACE has invested money in Al Nassr in the case of Jhon Duran and offered a very high price for Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton. Currently, Al Hilal is leading the SPL with 46 points after 18 matches, 8 points more than Ronaldo's Al Nassr. With Duran, Al Nassr's rebound may be stronger in the rest of the season.
If this policy is followed, it will not be surprising if in the summer of 2025, once Mohamed Salah leaves Liverpool, his destination will be Al Nassr. At that time, the Egyptian striker could become the most expensive contract in the history of world football, surpassing the 198 million pound mark Neymar set in 2017 when he joined PSG from Barcelona.
