Saudi League Transfer Deadline Closes
Cristiano Ronaldo’s mega money move to Saudi earlier this year sparked an influx of superstars moving to the Saudi League which created waves in the global transfer market. Clubs will be either breathing a sigh of relief that the transfer window has closed or rueing the chance to offload unwanted players.
Liverpool will certainly be breathing a sigh of relief that Mohammad Salah has decided to not join Al-Ittihad. The Saudi club were rumoured to have submitted a last minute £200 million plus bid for Salah. Throughout the transfer window, Liverpool was adamant that Salah would not be allowed to leave especially since Jordan Henderson and Fabinho were snatched up by Saudi clubs.
Ex Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was also signed to manage Al-Ettifaq and promptly signed former Red, Gini Wijnaldum from Paris Saint-Germain. Two other former Reds, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firminho have also joined the influx of stars to the Saudi league.
Al-Ettifaq did manage to secure a transfer deadline signing in Demarai Gray from Everton for £10 million. The 28-year-old Jamaican international joins Henderson, Wijnaldum, Moussa Dembele and Jack Hendry as new signings for Al-Eittfaq.
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Another high-profile player that was rumoured to move to Al-Ettifaq on the transfer deadline was Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho. The club proposed a loan move for Sancho who has now gone out of favour with United manager Erik Ten Hag but were unable to meet United’s demand to commit to a £50 purchase option. It remains to be seen if there is another approach for Sancho in the January transfer window.
While Al-Ittihad and Al-Ettifaq failed to get their high-profile signings, some clubs were left wondering how they will offload unwanted players. Tottenham Hotspurs were hoping for bids for out-of-favour goalkeeper Hugo Lloris but despite the many transfer links none of them materialized.
The 36-year-old who has been replaced by Guglielmo Vicario as the number one at Spurs is now hoping that a bid will come in for him in the January transfer window in order to get first team football.
It’s a similar story for Donny Van de Beek who was linked to Ajax, Lorient and Real Sociedad during the transfer window but with none of them materializing. The midfielder has been left out of United’s Champions League squad and is now destined for the sidelines unless a move comes in for him in January.
PSG were hoping a bid would have materialized for out of favour Marco Verratti but it appears the player will be with the club until January. PSG manager Luis Enrique has sidelined Verratti and it doesn’t look like the Italian will be seeing any playing time anytime soon.
With the transfer window closed and based on what has been reported, Saudi clubs have splashed out a total of close to £800 million in the summer transfer market with Al-Nassr (£140 million), Al-Hilal (£291 million) and Al-Ahli (£156 million) spending the most. Clubs in Europe will be looking over their should come January when the transfer window reopens and hope their star players do not leave.
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