In recent years, the Saudis have become very popular in European football due to how active they are when they takeover a club.
Manchester City, PSG Paris Saint-German and Newcastle United of late are clubs that have benefited massively from the otherwise known as oil rich nation, hence have started to reach heights of note.
Leagues like the Premier League, French League and other leagues that does not use a salary cap have made it easy for clubs to spend big and even design a massive wage bill for players.
It is not so in La Liga, where the percentage spent has to correspond with the percentage earned on a certain level. Highlights why clubs in Spain struggle to register players but it is an instrument to protect the average teams.
Of late, European leagues are becoming more tough on the Saudi takeovers, because they feel it is taking the steam out of the game as some teams finds it easy to bully another in the transfer window.
Moreso, in the long run, they become so good that they dominate the entire league, winning the championship titles year in and out because of how nonchalantly they spend.
PSG Paris Saint-German in France and Manchester City in England as examples. Understandable that French teams are not so competitive. However, those were the same clubs that combined for 55 championship titles before PSG had a first taste of it in 1986.
Even after winning her first League title, the Parisiens had to wait another seven years for a second in 1994, and after that, it wasn’t until 2013, after the takeover that they were able to add a third. That defines competitiveness.
However, from the impact of the takeover, PSG has eleven League titles in total, just ten years later, with the traditional heavyweights becoming not good enough to challenge for the title.
In England, though not taking anything away from Pep Guardiola, the team has become so good that now 90 points is not enough to win the Premier League title. Which was not so in the past.
The gap between themselves and plenty of other teams in the league is too wide and on their day, anyone can get thrashed, even on the continent, they can be too handful for the ones regarded as the best of the bests.
The pressure of being continously dominated by the Citizens has forced most teams in the division to break the banks just to remain competitive enough to challenge, but not many has been lucky as the Ethiad landlords.
The desperation has also been pounced on by selling clubs. As a result, many clubs have spent mouthwatering amounts on certain players, many of whom are not worth it. This also contributed to the crazy market these days.
From this point of viewing the whole scenario, Europeans have been taking measures to restrict Saudi takeovers and in response to this, the antagonist have taken measures of their own. The effect has now become a threat to the Europeans’ domination of what Pelé once called ‘the beauty game’.
Instead of taking out the money and investing in Europe, the Saudis have retired to improving their own league by attracting the best players of this world, so that in the long run, their nation becomes the home of football.
The goal is to win the bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup and it is undeniable with the way the nation is progressing in football, it could become inevitable that nations around the world will be headed for Middle East for the 24th edition of the global tournament.
Europe playing their part in making it work
The Saudis are bringing the game home and with the help of major leagues in Europe. The Super Cup of some top leagues, which was traditionally played as a single final between the winner of the major domestic Cup and league title has been turned into a mini tournament, and invitation extended to two other teams.
The Spanish Football Federation, (RFEF) and the Italian Football Federation, (FIGC) are subconsciously playing huge parts in making things happen for the Arabs.
Reportedly, Saudi Arabia has paid handsomely to host the Spanish Super Cup tournament event from 2019 to least 2029. The Middle Eastern nation reportedly supplied the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) with €40 million ($43 million) each year between 2020 and 2022, despite the 2021 edition taking place in Sevilla due to the pandemic. It is now spending around €30 million ($33 million) annually to keep it.
This money comes under the Saudi state name. Yet it is believed to stem directly from the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority Turki bin Abdul Mohsen bin Abdul Latif — who oversees sport and related departments while owning La Liga team Almería.
There is room to suggest the figures are somewhat excessive, as the nation holds back for a potential joint World Cup in 2030. But the underlying wealth is undeniable and something Spain hasn’t been able to resist.
Also, three of the previous five Italian Super Coppa has been played in Saudi Arabia. This is because of an agreement between Serie A and General Sports Authority (Saudi Arabia’s governing sports body) arrived at back in 2018, according to which three Italian Supercup editions were to be held on Saudi Arabian soil.
Signing Super Stars in with pattern
Years ago, it was the Chinese league that made this bold attempt to rival the European football but they were never even close to achieving that, given the way they went about it.
However, don’t get it twisted, the Saudi’s threat is no fluke and with the way they are going about it, it is very close to realization.
Just like China did theirs, the Saudi had been signing players from Europe but none of those are really neighborhood names – the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in January changed it all, and maybe steadfast their project.
The unfortunate ending to the Portuguese’s return to Old Trafford presented the Saudis a massive opportunity, which they were able to effectively take advantage of.
Before the signing of Ronaldo, Al Nassr had less than a million followers on their official Instagram account and as at today, just six months of association with the superstar they have well over 12 millions.
Same goes for the league as well as rival teams. The league, clubs and players are getting more and more famous by the day.
Ronaldo himself has been playing his part in selling the Saudi project. In several interviews, the five time Ballon d’or winner has talked about how much he is enjoying his time in Asia and how big the league will get in the coming years.
The heavens seem to be smiling on them as well given the lots of opportunities opening up days after days for world class players to move to the country.
Current Ballon d’or holder, Karim Benzema has sealed a move to Al Ittihad while he is soon to be joined by N’Golo Kanté once the discrepancies in his medicals is sorted out.
Reports in Spain suggests another Ballon d’or winner in Luka Modric will be headed to Saudi Arabia immediately the new agreement he is set to sign with Real Madrid ends next summer.
Lionel Messi was persuaded but the Argentine choose Inter Miami of the Major League Soccer in the United States instead, but ex teammate, Sergio Busquets could still be on the plane headed for the Middle East though nothing is concrete at the moment.
Sergio Ramos is another player that recently became a free agent and he is being courted by clubs in Saudi Arabia. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ilkay Gundogan, and many more have offers from different Araba clubs and in the next five years, clubs in the country will have better percentage of their teams comprising of players signed from Europe.
That is the target. Given the aforementioned players are those that defined the current generation having been around for at least the past ten years or even more, football fans have become attached to so many of the names, and will go lengths just to continue watching them play.
The Saudi’s know this and are exploring every opportunity. The agenda is to spend €20 billion on football to attract superstars to their league, which will in turn help the country progress in multiple ways.
Saudi Arabia is a country developing in fast pace and in the last year, she generated a budget surplus of $26 billion and the intention is to invest in sports, technologies and real estates development.
Prince Muhammed ibn Salman wants to reduce the overreliance on oil and the aforementioned he believes will help secure the country’s future.
It’s been so far so good and even though they appear to be overspending, they have also been able to improve in their public relations as a nation while also building strong brands in large organizations.
Aids from other continents
In latest news, the Saudi Arabia National team has been invited to take part in the 48th edition of the Copa America by the South American Football Confederation.
This is another opportunity for the nation to grown their resume in the sports and all these will go a long way in aiding their cause to promote their league and their bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Saudi inflating transfer value a hoax
In 2002, Manchester United signed Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United for around £30 millions, the amount which is deemed to worth over £50 millions today when equated with the inflation rate.
Given the advancement the game has enjoyed from that period to now, how will signing Jack Grealish for £100 million in today’s market be condemned as overpaying ?
A summer before the signing of Ferdinand, Manchester United had paid a whooping £28.1 million to Lazio for the signing of Juan Sebastian Veron, while Wayne Rooney joined from Everton after the European Championship in 2004 for around £30 millions.
Today, those deals can be compared to how their City rivals do business. Considering many of the players at City cost around or less than £50 millions each, it can be said that they are getting the deals done at cheaper ratea than United did around two decades ago.
Yet, no one questioned Sir Alex Ferguson’s spending but Pep Guardiola is never far from criticism – it is not that they are overspending there at the Ethiad, they just have a man who understands the game more than any other around, in Guardiola.
Though the wages paid to players moving to Saudi Arabia today is ridiculous, and almost irresistible even for those who already ammased the wealth in their years of playing, almost all will still say yes to more.
Just like Karim Benzema reportedly said to some of his entourage, ‘ how can you reject €400m’, the offers are just too good to say no.
But that is how you build. Luring superstars away from the spotlight comes with a costs, and the Saudis are more than ready to pay as it rightly suits their project.
Time has come for Europe to worry about surrendering the football power because the Saudis and Asia are coming, and the machineries are dancing to their tunes when they come calling.
Author : Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
