In soccer, the summer transfer window is always an exciting time. The world’s best players have the opportunity to move clubs and take their careers in a different direction. Clubs can make improvements on their team from the previous season, while also shedding any dead weight.
But, this summer the transfer window looked a lot different. Dozens of players from Europe’s top five leagues decided to take their talents to the Saudi Pro League in Saudi Arabia. Players like Neymar, Karim Benzema, Fabinho, Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez and many more left their respective European clubs and signed with Saudi teams instead.
The appeal for these players is simple: money. Just like LIV Golf, the Saudi Pro League is backed by the Saudi Investment Fund, meaning the clubs have just about an unlimited pool of cash to pull from. This means incredibly large salaries for the players and the ability of these Saudi clubs to pay huge transfer fees to European teams in order to acquire their stars.
Each new Saudi player is on a salary that greatly trumps what they were making in Europe. And this money isn’t just reserved for stars like Neymar, who is rumored to make over $300 million a year from Saudi club Al-Hilal. Someone like Jordan Henderson, the former Liverpool captain who is an excellent player but not a superstar by any means, is making $46.9 million a year in Saudi Arabia. Henderson was previously taking home $7 million a year as the captain of Liverpool.
We’ve previously seen this kind of movement from Europe with the Chinese Super League’s growth seven years ago and even MLS. But there are some key differences between then and what is happening with the Saudi Pro League now. The Chinese Super League attracted good European players with exuberant salaries, but no one to the level of Neymar, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.
And now, the Chinese Super League is facing all kinds of financial problems stemming from over-investment in players less than a decade ago.
In MLS, European stars moving stateside were almost exclusively past their prime. For David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Andrea Pirlo and more, MLS was simply the last stop of their careers before retirement.
The Saudi Pro League is different. While some of the new players coming to Saudi Arabia are past their prime, most of them are still world class. Neymar, Benzema, Mane and Mahrez are still among the best players in the world. In addition, Saudi Arabia has been able to attract talented young players. The 21-year-old Spaniard Gabri Vega was rumored to be wanted by clubs like Chelsea and Liverpool, but he instead opted to sign with Saudi outfit Al-Ahli.
The money also isn’t going to dry up anytime soon. The Saudi Public Investment Fund is said to be worth around $538 billion. They will continue to try to attract the best talent in world soccer, including a player like Kylian Mbappe, who was reportedly close to a Saudi move over the summer.
With this new power in the global game, the landscape of soccer is changing.
And for all of the players who moved to Saudi Arabia, the money spoke a lot louder than any potential ethical drawbacks.
Human rights in Saudi Arabia are often ranked among the worst in the world. This is common knowledge, and any player who’s moved to Saudi Arabia has simply chosen to ignore it. As wealthy footballers, they won’t have to see any of these problems first hand.
These players were all millionaires before Saudi Arabia. It’s particularly upsetting to see someone like Jordan Henderson, who was previously an outspoken advocate of LGBTQ+ rights, throw that all away for a big payday. Henderson has come out and said that his move was not motivated by money, but that really is hard to believe.
The appeal of generational wealth is obviously a big one, but it’s not like these players were making pennies before. They were already rich. Now, Neymar, Benzema, Mane and the others are simply more rich.
Many have said you can’t fault the players for taking the money. I think you can, especially when you consider the ethical implications of getting paid by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. But the precedent has already been set: no one is really going to bat an eye if you move to Saudi Arabia. Yes, there has been some public pushback, but nothing to deter the continued exodus of players from Europe to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s increased presence in professional sports will continue to grow. It’s all a part of an effort to diversify the country’s economy from just oil exports. The Saudi Pro League will continue to court the world’s top players as time goes on. Europe is still the place with most of the world’s best players as of now, but the Saudi Pro League is doing their best to change that.
