In the world of soccer, money talks. And in the Saudi Pro League, it seems money has a lot to say. With the influx of enormous investments, top European players have found a new home in Saudi. While this development has been unstoppable, interesting revelations have recently come forward from the president of Saudi team Al Ittihad, shedding light on a perceived bias towards Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Al Nassr and Neymar‘s Al Hilal.
The spotlight fell on this issue with the attempted signing of Liverpool star Mohamed Salah. During the summer transfer window, Salah was a highly sought-after player. Recent developments suggest he remains a top target for Saudi clubs in the upcoming January transfer window. So why couldn’t Al Ittihad sign him?
Are Al Nassr and Al Hilal getting a bias advantage?
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Al Ittihad president Anmar Al Hailae has raised concerns about a lack of fairness in the league. Al Hailae recently gave an interview in which he aired his grievances, stating that Al Ittihad could not sign Salah due to a lack of budget. In contrast, teams like Al Nassr and Al Hilal locked their desired stars like Ronaldo and Neymar on their roster.
🚨 Anmar Al Hailae, président d’Al Ittihad, dans une déclaration intéressante concernant le mercato d’Al Ittihad !
Les choix de Nuno Santo, Mohammed Salah et Liverpool, Marquinhos,…
« Pour la première fois je le dit, les joueurs étrangers qui étaient déjà présent dans le… pic.twitter.com/s32FSD6Yor
— SPL 🇸🇦 (@ActuSPL) November 22, 2023
Al Hailae expressed there should be more “transparency” in Al Ittihad’s recruitment program. He emphasized that the program has fulfilled all the club’s requests, but there seems to be a lack of a “special” budget allocated to Al Ittihad.
The president stated, “They said all teams are equal (Al Hilal, Al Nassr, Al Ahli, and Al Ittihad) but that Al Ittihad only asked for 4 players? That’s not true, all the teams had 8 players and, as I said earlier, the players weren’t against leaving.” Al Hailae discussed their existing players were ready to make way for fresh signings, but the budget was the problem.
It is worth noting that Al Ittihad has managed to attract players of significant caliber, such as Karim Benzema and Ngolo Kante. However, there were still players that the team desired, like Salah, who slipped through their fingers due to financial constraints.
Dive Deeper: ‘Enjoyable’ Tussle With Cristiano Ronaldo Sparks a Confession From Saudi Pro League Rival
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Al Ittihad president reveals why they couldn’t sign Mohammed Salah
As revealed earlier, Al Ittihad did not have sufficient funds to secure Mohammed Salah and Marquinhos. Al Hailae shed light on the negotiations surrounding these potential signings. He revealed, “The transfers of Mohamed Salah and Marquinhos were not finalized because of the budget of the recruitment committee.”
Al Hailae added, “When we arrived in the final negotiations with Mohamed Salah, they told us that we had no budget.” These revelations raise various questions. Is there really a prevailing bias within the league? Or could it be possible that Al Ittihad had already allocated their budget towards other signings?
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.
WATCH THIS STORY: Meet the Legendary Tennis Player Who is 3x Richer than Cristiano Ronaldo