{"id":287997,"date":"2023-09-08T13:35:35","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T13:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=287997"},"modified":"2023-09-08T13:35:35","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T13:35:35","slug":"only-premier-league-clubs-spent-more-on-transfers-than-saudi-pro-league-sides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/only-premier-league-clubs-spent-more-on-transfers-than-saudi-pro-league-sides\/","title":{"rendered":"Only Premier League clubs spent more on transfers than Saudi Pro League sides"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi Pro-League outspent all but one of Europe\u2019s leagues in the transfer window <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sign up to Miguel Delaney\u2019s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free<\/h3>\n

Sign up to Miguel\u2019s Delaney\u2019s free weekly newsletter <\/h3>\n

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Saudi\u2019s spend in the transfer window, which closed on Sept. 7, exceeded the spending of four of Europe\u2019s \u2018big five\u2019 leagues with only the Premier League ahead of the Middle Eastern nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis marks the first time since 2016 that another international league has outspent any of Europe\u2019s \u2018big five\u2019 during a football transfer window…,\u201d said Izzy Wray of Deloitte\u2019s Sports Business Group.<\/p>\n

\u201cEuropean football continues to be the benchmark for the game globally, and the Saudi investment in the game will divert its focus towards the infrastructure, to elevate the level of Asian football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced a Sports Clubs Investment and Privatization Project involving the league champions Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal, with a host of top players moving to the league.<\/p>\n

PIF own 75% of each of the four clubs, while their respective non-profit foundations own 25% of each.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/h3>\n


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This window\u2019s biggest transfer move came from the most successful club in Saudi Arabia, Al-Hilal, who spent 90 million euros to bring in Brazil star Neymar from Paris St Germain.<\/p>\n

In addition to Neymar, Al-Hilal also spent big money to sign Aleksandar Mitrovic, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.<\/p>\n

Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad signed Karim Benzema, N\u2019Golo Kante and Fabinho, while Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al-Nassr splashed out on Otavio, Sadio Mane, Aymeric Laporte, Marcelo Brozovic and Alex Telles.<\/p>\n

Al-Ahli, who returned to the Pro League following a season in the second division, also completed a string of signings including Gabri Veiga, Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino, Edouard Mendy, Alain Saint-Maximin and Merih Demiral.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe implementation of the Kingdom\u2019s privatization program is likely to draw a wave of interest around the SPL, potentially fueling the current spending pattern for the windows to come,\u201d Wray said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the spending power of the SPL already surpassing some of Europe\u2019s \u2018big five\u2019, it remains to be seen the impact this will have on the make-up of elite football for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mohamed Salah was a target, but chose to stay at Liverpool <\/p>\n

For all its expenditure, the SPL still missed out on some of its biggest targets.<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s Mohamed Salah was a target for Al-Ittihad, who reportedly had a bid worth 150 million pounds ($187.10 million) turned down by the Premier League club, while ambitious bids from Al-Hilal for Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe failed to materialise.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/h3>\n


\n
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Saudi Arabia has made massive investments in soccer, Formula One, boxing, tennis and golf in recent years.<\/p>\n

Critics accuse Saudi Arabia of using the PIF to engage in \u201csportswashing\u201d in the face of heavy criticism of the country\u2019s human rights record.<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Pro-League outspent all but one of Europe\u2019s leagues in the transfer window Sign up to Miguel Delaney\u2019s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-287997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"yoast_head":"\nOnly Premier League clubs spent more on transfers than Saudi Pro League sides - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/only-premier-league-clubs-spent-more-on-transfers-than-saudi-pro-league-sides\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Only Premier League clubs spent more on transfers than Saudi Pro League sides - 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