“Ludicrously Overpaid, Ageing Players Operating at Half Pace” – Saudi League Brutally Slammed, Despite Housing Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar

The Saudi Pro League has undergone a significant transformation in its soccer dynamics! This has happened mainly after signing numerous European stars. Soccer luminaries, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Sadio Mane, Karim Benzema, and a lot more, have enlightened the fans with this new chapter of their careers. However, a certain soccer journalist had a different perspective on the current state of the entire league’s infrastructure.

Saudi League fixtures experienced a sudden dip in average attendance under 4000 this season. At times, they are operating with the stadium being 75% vacant. On this note, this journalist slammed the vision of rebranding SPL, especially without any clear strategy to capture global attention in their league fixtures.

The Saudi Pro League called out for its severely low attendance

Earlier, Al Ettifaq suffered a 1-0 defeat against Al Riyadh. The attendance of this game was shockingly at just 696. The stadium holds a 22,200 capacity but failed to grab attention despite featuring soccer icons like Jordan Henderson, Moussa Dembele, and a lot more in the away roster. Daniel Storey, the soccer journalist, highlighted that SPL did not strategize for the natural development of the soccer culture of the Middle East.

They solely focused on high-profile soccer stars, which hardly boosted their ticket sales or enhanced the league’s entertainment value. Daniel Storey quoted on iNews, “This sure feels like football’s uber-capitalist end game: ludicrously overpaid, ageing players operating at half pace in the sweaty heat of plastic bowl stadia to the entertainment of roughly nobody watching live. There is no pretense of organic growth, of using ticket sales to fund spending. You just buy what you want to buy and then comes the boring bit”.

Certainly, Neymar’s recent injury will be a big blow for the league from a sporting and commercial perspective. Neymar’s severe injury woes in the CONMEBOL qualifiers raised concerns about the shortcomings of SPL’s vision, while he is potentially on the verge of missing out on the remainder of the season.

Read More: Neymar’s Terrible Injury Forces Al Hilal to Look for His Replacements in Kylian Mbappe and 2 Other Superstars

Has Neymar Jr’s season come to an end?

Neymar ruptured his ACL and the meniscus on his left knee during his match against Uruguay. The Barca star went down after tussling for the ball with a rival defender and needed immediate medical attention. This Brazilian’s horrific injury sidelined him for several months.

Neymar will be undergoing surgery and a rehabilitation program after an MRI scan confirmed the severity of the injury. While he had just gotten fit from a long-term injury that he picked up at PSG, this setback has plagued his fairytale start to this new chapter on Arabian soil.

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