Despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘Top 5’ Prediction, Saudi Pro League Dubbed ‘Dumping’ Ground For European Teams With Call to Ban Loaning Players

The Saudi Pro League has been sky-rocketing its reputation over the past few months. The league has attracted some of the top names in the world following Cristiano Ronaldo‘s move to Saudi Arabia. While the Portuguese star has big plans for the SPL, not everyone agrees to disagree. A former Premier League team owner bashed the Saudi Pro League. He claimed the teams use it as a dumping ground for their players.

To some fans, the words hold a lot of merit. Because clubs globally accepted big-money bids for some of their players from Saudi Arabian clubs. Clubs such as Chelsea and PSG, among other Premier League sides, have adjusted their balance books by selling their players for record prices.

Former Crystal Palace owner bashes Saudi Pro League with Cristiano Ronaldo at the helm

Ex-Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan was present for an interview with talkSPORT, where he touched on the emergence of the Saudi Pro League. While Cristiano Ronaldo has stated in his old interview that the league has massive potential, Jordan labeled the league as a way to work around financial fair play.

The ex-owner stated, “Like dumping players to Saudi, like to get them off your balance sheet, like getting them out on a transaction and then Saudi loaning them back to clubs in this country and finding a way around financial fair play.”

Jordan then confirmed he did not aim his frustrations at rival club Newcastle United but how Saudi Arabia had emerged as a place for teams to move on their players to match financial fair play regulations. 

The former owner stated, “I don’t think it’s anything to do with Newcastle. It has to do with the rise of Saudi! And it’s just the timing issue that Saudi has become a pro footballing league that teams dump their players in left, right, and center and create a way out for themselves to come out of a problematic situation.”

With Cristiano Ronaldo stating how the league continues to grow, Jordan had another concern. During the interview, Jordan also questioned the multi-club ownership culture. Fans from all corners of the world have questioned the reasoning behind the activity as it claws at the essence of fair play.

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Simon Jordan bashes multi-club ownership

Simon Jordan, during the interview, bashed the essence of multi-club ownership. The former club owner stated that he was concerned with how the authorities have allowed things to happen over the years. Jordan stated, “The argument about multi-club ownership has always been a flawed one, as far as I’m concerned. They always let it go. The UEFA allowed it to happen. That’s the precedent of multi-club ownership. It has been negated by arguments saying, ohh they don’t buy clubs that play in the same tournament.”

Multi-club ownership has always been a serious debate amongst soccer fans. While the soccer fraternity is fine, with teams playing in different leagues, the former Crystal Palace owner wants to do nothing with it.

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The past few months have seen multiple Saudi-owned clubs come under massive criticism from the fans. Soccer fans have voiced their frustration after Al-Hilal’s Ruben Neves was linked to a move back to the Premier League to play for Newcastle United on loan. To sum up, is something going on with these multiple-ownership clubs?