🇸🇦 Which high-profile football players have moved or moving to Saudi Arabia?

:rotating_light: Al-Hilal are lining up an offer of around €47M-a-year to Alvaro Morata! :money_mouth_face:

The Saudi club are also willing to pay almost €24M to Atlético Madrid for the transfer. :saudi_arabia:

(Source: @MailSport )

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:rotating_light: Callum Hudson-Odoi is the latest Chelsea player to be approached by Saudi Arabian clubs. :saudi_arabia:

(Source: @FabrizioRomano)

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:rotating_light: N’Golo Kanté will wear the number :seven: shirt at Al-Ittihad. :saudi_arabia:

(:camera_flash: @ittihad)

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UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says Saudi Arabian clubs are making a mistake by signing players at the end of their careers.

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Saudi Arabia is using football as a vehicle to diversify and build a sustainable ecosystem relating to sport, tourism, infrastructure, and the creation of jobs for Saudis, which will strengthen its national economic diversification agenda. Saudi Arabia is also using these investments to boost its reputation in the Western world, which is known as “sportswashing”.

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In the coming years Saudi Arabia’s investment in football will reshape the Middle East by attracting footballers from Europe and monopolizing commercial deals.

This sports exodus to Middle East will have wide implications on the region and is detrimental to the growth of football in other countries.

Saudi Arabia’s investment in football has the potential to have long-term effects on the global football industry. Some of these potential effects are:

  • Disrupting international soccer world: Saudi Arabia’s investment in football is disrupting the international soccer world, which has traditionally been controlled by Europe and the West. Instead of moving towards a balanced overall football development world wide, we are seeing a paradigm shift in the football landscape.

  • Boosting Saudi Arabia’s economic prospects: Saudi Arabia’s investment in football is part of the kingdom’s strategy to strengthen its national economic diversification agenda, which could attract foreign investment, put the kingdom on the world map, and create jobs for Saudis.

  • Using football as a tool to improve Saudi Arabia’s image: Saudi Arabia has a huge football fanbase, and football could be its most effective tool to improve the country’s profile and draw positive attention. This soft power strategy in an attempt to polish its public image on the international stage.

  • Sportswashing strategy: Saudi Arabia’s investment in football is part of its broader strategy to expand its investments in sport, from golf to football to esports, and use sport as a political instrument for the leaders of Saudi Arabia. The process is known as sportswashing, a term popularized by Amnesty International to describe the use of sports by oppressive governments to legitimize their regimes and distract from their human rights abuses.

Overall, Saudi Arabia’s investment in football has significant implications for the global football industry.

The European leagues and countries/leagues in rest of the world should work on rules for its clubs that will put controls on such questionable transfers and curtail this shift before the game of football is vested in one country.

It will be interesting to see how it develops in the coming years.

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:rotating_light: Saudi Arabian clubs are now targeting a move for Hirving Lozano and the Napoli player is considering the move. :mexico::saudi_arabia:

(Source: @DiMarzio)

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:rotating_light: Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi has received two approaches from clubs in Saudi Arabia.

[Source: Fabrizio Romano]

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:rotating_light: Al-Hilal are prepared to offer Bernardo Silva an eye-watering £75m-a-year salary to persuade him to join them. :saudi_arabia:

(Source: @Jack_Gaughan)

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Official, confirmed. Rúben Neves joins Al Hilal on permanent deal from Wolves for €55m fee, record sale for English club. :large_blue_circle::saudi_arabia::portugal: #transfers

Neves has signed as Wolves player until June 2026.

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:rotating_light: Kalidou Koulibaly has signed his three-year contract to join Al-Hilal from Chelsea. :writing_hand:

(Source: @SkySport)

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:rotating_light: Édouard Mendy will travel to Saudi Arabia tomorrow to complete his move to Al-Ahli from Chelsea. :airplane::white_check_mark::saudi_arabia:

(Source: @FabrizioRomano)

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:rotating_light: Marco Verratti has received an important proposal from Al-Hilal and the midfielder and his entourage are considering his next steps. :thinking:

He will make a decision in the next few days. :it::saudi_arabia:

(Source: @AlfredoPedulla)

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OFFICIAL: Kalidou Koulibaly joins Al Hilal just one season after signing for Chelsea :saudi_arabia:

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More on Al Ahli proposal to Roberto Firmino. Saudi club has offered Brazilian striker a contract valid until June 2026, three year deal. :brazil::saudi_arabia: #transfers

Al Ahli hope to get it done this week to plan for the medical tests between Wednesday and Friday.

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:rotating_light: Hakim Ziyech’s move to Al-Nassr will be complete in the next 48 hours. Personal terms and a €10m fee are already agreed. :morocco:

(Source: @JacobsBen)

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Hakim Ziyech will sign for Al Nassr from Chelsea, reports @fabriziorom :saudi_arabia:

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:white_check_mark::portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo
:white_check_mark::fr: Karim Benzema
:white_check_mark::fr: N’Golo Kanté
:white_check_mark::portugal: Ruben Neves
:white_check_mark::senegal: Kalidou Koulibaly :new:

:soon::morocco: Hakim Ziyech
:soon::senegal: Edouard Mendy
:soon::croatia: Marcelo Brozović
:soon::brazil: Bobby Firmino

:grey_question::portugal: Bernardo Silva
:grey_question::algeria: Riyad Mahrez
:grey_question::fr: Antoine Griezmann
:grey_question::england: Callum Hudson-Odoi
:grey_question::chile: Alexis Sanchez
:grey_question::es: Jordi Alba
:grey_question::fr: Hugo Lloris
:grey_question::gabon: P-E Aubameyang
:grey_question::es: Saul Niguez
:grey_question::ghana: Thomas Partey
:grey_question::es: Alvaro Morata

Will you be watching the Saudi Pro League this season? :thinking::point_down::saudi_arabia:

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:rotating_light: Jesse Lingard has admitted he is considering a move to Saudi Arabia. :saudi_arabia::airplane:

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Édouard Mendy has completed his move from Chelsea to Al-Ahli—Never forget his incredible 12 months :dizzy::arrow_down:

:trophy: Champions League
:trophy: UEFA Super Cup
:trophy: Club World Cup
:trophy: AFCON
:trophy: The Best Men’s Goalkeeper

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