Saudi Arabia, a new pole of attraction for soccer players.
When Shanghai Port paid nearly $100 million to take Oscar away from Chelsea in 2016, London club manager Antonio Conte expressed alarm at the growing power of the Chinese league.
Today, Oscar is one of the few remaining international stars in the Chinese Super League and Saudi Arabia has displaced it as the top Asian destination for billboard players.
Al-Hilal, from Riyadh, won a tussle with European clubs this month, taking Brazilian midfielder Matheus Pereira, who West Bromwich Albion parted with after falling to the English second division.
English radio commentator Noel Whelan opined that the Brazilian was making a mistake. “You walk away from the limelight. You will have a good financial reward, but you will not show yourself like you would in Europe, ”he told Football Insider.
That was the reaction seen on social media when several players emigrated from Europe to China five years ago. The Saudis are not spending as much as the clubs in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou did. China was the league that spent the most money on transfers in the winter of 2017, shelling out some $57 million.
A combination of factors, including stricter regulations such as a transfer tax, and restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic have altered the landscape in the Chinese league. Several Brazilians had to change scenery and Paulinho and Talisca are already in Saudi Arabia.
“It was an honor to play for a big club like Guangzhou in China, but I am very happy to come to Saudi Arabia,” Talisca said after joining Al-Nassr. “A lot of good players are coming and the league has great growth potential. I'm glad to be here".
Saudi Arabia always wanted to be the top league in Asia. In 2018, Turki Al-Asheikh, in charge of the sports ministry, said that the goal was to have one of the top leagues in the world by 2020.
The pandemic has disrupted plans, but the country has some advantages over China when it comes to signing players.
“Soccer is more developed at the club level and also at the international level,” Simon Chadwick, a professor of Eurasian sports at Emlyon Business School, told The Associated Press. "There is a great passion for the sport, which makes it a legitimate destination for players from all over the world."
Saudi Arabia qualified for five World Cups and won the Asian championship three times. China was in only one World Cup.
Matheus Pereira replaces former Italian international Sebastian Giovinco at Al-Hilal, a powerful Asian club with three continental titles. There he will meet the former striker of the French team Bafetimbi Gomis, the top gunner from last season; Peruvian striker André Carrillo and a new hire, Moussa Mareca, from Porto.
Another club from Riyadh, Al-Nassr, signed the Argentine Pity Martínez for 18 million dollars in 2020 and has just signed the Cameroonian Vincent Aboubakar, from Porto, and the Argentine Ramiro Funes Mori, from Villarreal.
The Saudis also import renowned technicians. In recent years, Marcello Lippi, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Fabio Capello, Felix Magath, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Manuel Pellegrini have visited China.
But now they look to Saudi Arabia, where people like Leonardo Jardim arrived, who led Monaco to champion France in 2017, and the former coach of the Brazilian team Mano Menezes.
Still, some issues remain to be resolved, including the fact that some clubs are dependent on contributions from tycoons or the state.
In 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shelled out $340 million to settle the debts of Saudi professional league clubs. Chadwick says it remains to be seen if the league can be sustained in the long term.
“There have been several government bailouts, but they want to leave them on their own and learn to resist market pressures, be more economically disciplined and think more business-wise,” Chadwick said.
Saudi officials are also gaining ground, establishing stronger ties with FIFA. There has been speculation that they could bid to host the 2030 World Cup and the Saudis recently caused a stir by calling for consideration of hosting the World Cup every two years.