1 September 2023 - 4:35 PM
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IMAGO | High-profile players like Karim Benzema and N’golo Kante have made lucrative moves to Saudi Pro League .
Beyond the big names: Unpacking the Saudi Pro League's €800 million transfer window
- High-profile players like Karim Benzema and N’golo Kante have made lucrative moves to Saudi Pro League (SPL), but what does this mean for the league and European football?
- Only Premier League clubs have spent more on players this summer than the SPL, but with a quarter of the European players moving there accounting for 96 per cent of overall transfer spend, the typical signing is actually a journeyman player joining on a
- Why it matters: The Saudi summer spend is the windfall European clubs have been waiting for since the pandemic, but a leading economist warns of the inflationary impact of Saudi spending on global football salaries.
- The perspective: The SPL is far behind in global standings, requiring further investment, possibly as much as €3-4 billion spending on players plus high salaries to compete with top European leagues. Is this just the start?
In a summer which has seen global stars such as Karim Benzema, N’golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez swap European giants for personally lucrative transfers to the Saudi Pro League (SPL), you might be forgiven for missing the transfer of Austrian winger Srđan Spiridonović.
On 16 July, Spiridonović swapped the Lithuanian club FK Kauno Žalgiris for Hajer FC in the Saudi First Division League, the second tier of Saudi football.
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